The rapid integration of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) into design education is transforming the ways students engage with learning processes, projects, and creative tools. This study examines how GenAI-mediated learning influences student engagement within undergraduate Visual Communication Design (VCD) education. Grounded in the Three-Dimensional Model of Student Engagement—encompassing cognitive, behavioral, and affective dimensions—this research employed a one-group pre-test –post-test pre-experimental design with a mixed-methods approach. An adapted version of the University Student Engagement Inventory (USEI) was administered to assess changes in engagement before and after the integration of GenAI tools in a project-based VCD course. Quantitative findings revealed statistically significant increases across the three engagement dimensions, suggesting that GenAI-supported learning environments may strengthen students’ attention, participation, and emotional involvement in design tasks. To complement these results, reflective journals were analyzed qualitatively, offering insights into students’ perceptions of how AI tools enhanced feedback immediacy, experimentation, and learning autonomy. The integration of findings points to the emergence of an AI-mediated engagement ecology—where interaction with generative systems reconfigures traditional patterns of motivation and participation. The paper discusses these implications within the broader discourse on technology-enhanced learning in creative disciplines and suggests directions for refining engagement theory to better capture evolving learner–AI dynamics in design education.
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