Photo: UBCO
UBCO study determines students use AI ethically to enhance their learning.
New research from the University of British Columbia Okanagan indicates that students are using artificial intelligence responsibly, not just to boost their grades.
A recent study published in Advances in Physiology Education by assistant professor Meaghan MacNutt, who teaches professional ethics at UBCO, shows student’s use of AI contradicts common concerns.
“AI tools like ChatGPT allow users to interface with large language models. They offer incredible promise to enhance student learning, however, they are also susceptible to misuse in the completion of writing assignments,” says MacNutt.
“This potential has raised concerns about AI as a serious threat to academic integrity and to the learning that occurs when students draft and revise their own written work.”
Almost 400 students, from three different courses took part in the study, anonymously completing a survey about their use of AI on at least five reflective writing assignments. All three courses used an identical AI policy and students had the option to use the tool for their writing.
Only about one-third of the students who took the survey reported using AI. The majority of that group, 81 per cent, reported their AI use was inspired by at least one of the following factors: speed and ease in completing the assignment, a desire for higher grades and a desire to learn.
About 15 per cent of the students said they were motivated by all three factors, with more than 50 per cent using it to save time on the assignment.
MacNutt notes that most students used AI to initiate the paper or revise sections. Only 0.3 per cent of assignments were mostly written by AI.
“There is a lot of speculation when it comes to student use of AI, however, students in our study reported that AI use was motivated more by learning than by grades, and they are using AI tools selectively and in ways they believe are ethical and supportive of their learning.
“This was somewhat unexpected due to the common perception that undergraduate students have become increasingly focused on grades at the expense of learning,” MacNutt says.
The study indicates there is the potential that if paid versions of AI work better there is the possibility that students who can afford to use a more effective platform might have an advantage over others—creating classroom inequities.
“Our findings contradict common concerns about widespread student misuse and overuse of AI at the expense of academic integrity and learning,” says MacNutt.
“But as we move forward with our policies, or how we’re teaching students how to use it, we have to keep in mind that students are coming from really different places. And they have different ways of benefiting or being harmed by these technologies.”
UBC offers guidance to students and faculty about the risks and benefits of using AI, policies regarding its use in courses are at the discretion of individual instructors.
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