Design Principles and Observable Indicators for AI-Enabled Pedagogical Accompaniment: Evidence from the Amico Dual-Mode Prototype in Italy and China
For educators and researchers in AI-enhanced education, the framework provides design principles and observable indicators to ensure ethical, context-sensitive AI mediation, though the evidence is preliminary.
The paper proposes a replicable framework for AI-enabled pedagogical accompaniment based on a human-in-command approach, operationalized through a relational bridge concept. Pilot observations in Italy and China showed feasibility and perceived usefulness in vocational contexts.
AI-enabled systems are increasingly introduced into educational contexts, yet their effectiveness depends less on technological sophistication than on the quality of pedagogical mediation, ethical constraints, and context-sensitive design. This paper proposes a replicable framework for AI-enabled pedagogical accompaniment, grounded in a human-in-command approach in which adult responsibility remains central and AI functions as an enabling, non-substitutive infrastructure. Building on the Amico project, we operationalize the concept of a relational bridge as a sequence of micro-mediations that lower the threshold of access to educational relationships and facilitate transitions toward meaningful human interaction with teachers, peers, and communities of practice. The contribution synthesizes a set of design principles, including transparency of system identity and limits, scaffolding toward human contact, maieutic questioning, prevention of dependency dynamics, and data minimization, and maps them to observable indicators suitable for real educational settings. The paper also outlines an initial cross-context exploration of the prototype in Italy and China and discusses how the two interaction modes, AmicoMio (structured, task-oriented) and AmicoTuo (reflective, supportive), can be used as complementary pedagogical mediations. Pilot observations and participant feedback suggested feasibility and perceived usefulness in vocational contexts, motivating the present framework, informing the subsequent doctoral research program, and supporting the proposed collaborative research agenda.