The Future of Education

There is no doubt that generative AI (GenAI) is reshaping education (Ocak, Kopcha, Hodges, Sadik & Ozogul, 2025). It influences how learners access knowledge, create content and receive feedback. At the same time, Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Educational Practices (OEP) continue to expand opportunities for equitable access and the co-creation of knowledge. The importance of self-directed learning (SDL) has become even more crucial in an educational context that is constantly changing due to innovations such as GenAI and open education. Yet the intersections between GenAI, SDL, and open education are not well consolidated across recent scholarship. Facilitators face uncertainty about what is known, what is contested and where the gaps in the research lie. This paper presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of peer-reviewed research and carefully selected grey literature published between 2022 and 2026 that examines the relationships among GenAI, SDL and open education. The review will map how GenAI is conceptualised in relation to SDL (e.g., planning, monitoring, reflection, self-assessment) and how OER and OEP are positioned in GenAI-enabled learning environments (e.g., adaptation, remixing, openness). The enabling conditions and risks that are most frequently reported will also be explored. Following a Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) approach (Sarkis-Onofre et al. 2021), searches will be conducted across major education and interdisciplinary databases using a systematic search strategy. Studies will be screened against specific inclusion criteria and data will be extracted for descriptive synthesis. Data analysis will involve thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2012), identifying recurring patterns and themes related to the concepts of the study. The expected contribution will be a clear synthesis of emerging evidence and a conceptual map of how GenAI intersects with SDL, OER and OEP. The paper will propose implications for teaching practice, OER design and policy guidance in the GenAI environment. It will also identify priority areas for future research as revealed through the corpus of documents.