By Lucia McQuillan-Puccetti and Natalie Hartley
The Veritas Times team has recently gathered updated new teacher and student opinions on the AI chatbot, ChatGPT, following the last survey conducted in July 2023 (link to previous article).
Student Results and Opinions from Survey
Since the previous poll, where around 80% of students had heard of ChatGPT, now 100% of students have. This shows that while ChatGPT was already prominent when completing the last poll, it has become even more of a well-known program in recent months. Over half of students said their usage of ChatGPT was as a search engine, and many other students reported using ChatGPT for extracurriculars, such as for recipes and reading recommendations.
Just over half of students have a ChatGPT account, which is almost double the amount of students who had an account in the previous poll. This indicates that the usage of ChatGPT by students has become more regular, since ChatGPT can be used without logging in, but creating an account has other added benefits, such as chat history and more freedom with questions. This is further supported by the fact that only 10% of students said they had not used ChatGPT before, which is 5 times less than the number of students previously.
40% of students use ChatGPT more frequently than every week, with just under a tenth using it more than once per day. This shows a great difference between the usage of ChatGPT since the last poll, as previously, 80% of students said they had only used it once or a few times. It has become more frequently used since its original introduction.
Students, as presented by the data, have on the whole, become a lot more tolerant of ChatGPT usage, with 17% of students feeling that when others use it in their work they are not putting in any effort – half the amount from the last poll. In addition, almost 70% of students said it was helpful, which is 20% more than two years ago, since it is able to answer ‘specific questions’ with ‘direct answers’.
On the other hand, about three quarters of students said their views on ChatGPT have changed since its release, with one student remarking that it is ‘promoting anti-intellectualism’ and is causing the ‘younger generation [to become] dependent on AI’. A solution was suggested to this issue, saying that there could be a ‘ban put in place in schools’, similar to the one for ‘social media in our school or … [being] banned for specific age groups.’ By contrast, a few students said they are ‘more open’ to using ChatGPT since it has become more accepted in society and in education.
This presents an interesting contrast between students at our school, since many believe it is helpful in terms of revision or use as a search engine, whereas others feel it allows those students to gain an unfair advantage in academics, making them dependent on AI and slowing their development of critical thinking skills. A further student remarked that it was ‘sad to see [AI] takeover in educational and creative spaces’ and it can make people question the ‘validity of certain things nowadays’. They continued by saying they do not believe that ‘having an ethical AI program available to the public’ is possible, and that it is likely the issue would ‘only get worse.’
Teacher Results and Opinions from Survey
Similarly to students, 95% of teachers have now used ChatGPT, compared to fewer than half in the previous poll, highlighting a growing interest in and usage of the tool within our school community. The main reason for using ChatGPT remains to test it out, along with using it for leisure, employing it as a search engine and checking whether students have used it.
There is also a notable rise in awareness among teachers. Only 10% are currently unfamiliar with the platform, compared to over a quarter in the previous survey. Similarly, nearly half of teachers now report being able to tell when students have used ChatGPT for homework – a significant increase from less than a quarter two years ago.
Overall, staff appear increasingly accepting of and positive about ChatGPT. 75% of teachers now view it as a valuable innovation, compared to only 50% in the last poll. Notably, 15% of teachers have reported using ChatGPT in front of their students as an information source, reflecting its potential to contribute positively to education.
However, concerns remain. 60% of teachers worry that student use of ChatGPT may hinder their learning, and 35% have already observed negative impacts. Some teachers fear students may become overly reliant on AI tools, struggling to retain information over time, becoming ‘not only an issue for examinations, but also for life skills’. One teacher even questioned the future of the profession, asking ‘will teachers be required in the future if AI can do it all?’ Others expressed similar fears that AI might ‘take the human element out of other jobs’ and ‘take away human creativity’. One teacher also noted that their view changed after learning about the ‘environmental impact of each use’, making them more ‘reluctant to use it’.
Despite these concerns, many teachers acknowledged the practicality and usefulness of ChatGPT as a learning tool, but stressed our responsibility to ‘understand its functionality and how we can use it to support learning’. Several noted that their views have become more positive over time, with one stating, ‘I think teachers should use it to support teaching and learning, as it offers alternatives’.
Conclusion
To sum up, the majority of teachers and students seem to have a more positive outlook on ChatGPT than in the previous poll, with there being a notable increasing acceptance and interest surrounding this new technology. This is especially supported by how 40% of students heard about ChatGPT from their teachers, showing a growing encouragement of use of AI in an educational space, provided it is not for cheating on homework or exams, which many students have very strong views against.
We look forward to seeing how views on AI and chatbots will change in the future, especially as newer generations grow up with ChatGPT. We are interested to see its development in education, whether that be a complete removal of all AI, or a truly universal implementation of it.
