ChatGPT in education: Methods, potentials, and limitations

Abstract

ChatGPT has been under the scrutiny of public opinion including in education. Yet, less work has been done to analyze studies conducted on ChatGPT in educational contexts. This review paper examines where ChatGPT is employed in educational literature and areas of potential, challenges, and future work. A total of 63 publications were included in this review using the general framework of open and axial coding. We coded and summarized the methods, and reported potentials, limitations, and future work of each study. Thematic analysis of reviewed studies revealed that most extant studies in the education literature explore ChatGPT through a commentary and non-empirical lens. The potentials of ChatGPT include but are not limited to the development of personalized and complex learning, specific teaching and learning activities, assessments, asynchronous communication, feedback, accuracy in research, personas, and task delegation and cognitive offload. Several areas of challenge that ChatGPT is or will be facing in education are also shared. Examples include but are not limited to plagiarism deception, misuse or lack of learning, accountability, and privacy. There are both concerns and optimism about the use of ChatGPT in education, yet the most pressing need is to ensure student learning and academic integrity are not sacrificed. Our review provides a summary of studies conducted on ChatGPT in education literature. We further provide a comprehensive and unique discussion on future considerations for ChatGPT in education.