AI tools like ChatGPT will affect the future of education
ChatGPT by OpenAI has had a significant impact on many industries, including academia, capturing the attention and interests of educators all over the world. Given the novelty of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, many universities and educators are concerned about how this will affect their courses, curricula, overall learning and the future of education. This motivated us to allow our students to use it throughout the semester, and at the end, we asked them about their experiences and perceptions of ChatGPT, as well as how it affected their learning.
What is exciting about ChatGPT: According to our survey, students believe ChatGPT is simple to use, requires little effort and improves students’ performance in class. Students say that learning with ChatGPT allows them to devote more time to their studies. They believe it helps them achieve their learning objectives and improve their learning outcomes. They also report that it helps them get faster answers to specific questions or explain complex concepts. Finally, they say it aids in idea generation, research and writing, as well as checking grammar and suggesting word choices. Overall, ChatGPT saves them time and increases their class efficiency.
What is concerning about ChatGPT:
Many students expressed concerns about the accuracy and reliability of the information provided, as well as the current lack of up-todate information. These seem to be the main barrier to adopting this technology in higher education. Further concerns raised include issue related to incorrect or missing citations, the potential for misuse and plagiarism, and students’ overall reservations about using ChatGPT in the academic context due to a lack of clear policies. While accuracy is an issue, this should become less of a concern as the algorithm develops and the system is updated. The current knowledge cutoff date of ChatGPT 4 is September 2021.
How does it compare to Google Search:
Many argue that traditional search engines as we have know them for decades will become obsolete as they integrate AI capabilities, as Bing now does. For the time being, we were curious about students’ perceptions of ChatGPT and traditional Google searches. We discovered a few intriguing details. Overall, it appears that students prefer ChatGPT to Google for efficiency, idea generation, text writing and structuring, and quick responses. When it comes to accurate and current information, search filters, richness of data such as images, videos, or shopping, and credibility of sources, however, a significant portion of the responses favor Google over ChatGPT.
Recommendations: Requiring students to use ChatGPT in class for the duration of the semester provided valuable insights into how students can use and misuse generative AI tools like ChatGPT. A ban of these tools is neither a long-term nor practical solution for higher education. Furthermore, it should be noted that the AI tools we use today will be the weakest and least sophisticated ones as these tools will improve over time, just as Google’s search engine has done in the last 17 years. That brings us a strange mix of comfort and concern. We offer four suggestions for educators. First, we find that using both ChatGPT and Google at the same time gives students the best of both tools because they complement each other. Second, if professors are looking for ways to limit the use of ChaGPT, we discovered that class assignments based on events that occurred after September 2021 helps limit the potential misuse of ChatGPT. Third, we have discovered that focusing on smaller companies, where there is less information available online in general, helps to further limit ChatGPT misuse. Finally, designing class assignments that include a component in which students must create their own data and use non-text-based tools such as creating videos, drawing graphs, or other software such as Tableau, Excel, or SPSS helps to limit the misuse of ChatGPT further.