Student perspectives on the use of generative artificial intelligence technologies in higher education

Abstract

The aim of this project was to understand student perspectives on generative artificial intelligence (GAI) technologies such as Chat generative Pre-Trained Transformer (ChatGPT), in order to inform changes to the University of Liverpool Academic Integrity code of practice. The survey for this study was created by a library student team and vetted through focus groups. A total of 2555 students participated in the survey. Results showed that only 7% of students who responded had not heard of any GAI technologies, whilst over half had used or considered using these for academic purposes. The majority of students (54.1%) were supportive or somewhat supportive of using tools such as Grammarly, but 70.4% were unsupportive or somewhat unsupportive towards students using tools such as ChatGPT to write their whole essay. Students who had higher levels of confidence in their academic writing were less likely to use or consider using them for academic purposes, and were also less likely to be supportive of other students using them. Most students (41.1%) also thought there should be a university wide policy on when these technologies are or are not appropriate to use. The results of this research suggest that students require clear policies on the use of GAI and that these technologies should not be banned from university, but consideration must be made to ensure different groups of students have equal access to the technologies.