The Future of Education
Artificial Intelligence in Education: Perceptions and Uses of ChatGPT by Higher Education Teachers in Portugal
Rogério Costa, Polytechnic University of Leiria (Portugal)
Adriana Lage Costa, Polytechnic University of Leiria (Portugal)
Abstract
Since it became publicly accessible in November 2022, ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, has put artificial intelligence at the centre of discussions in all areas of society. As far as education is concerned, at first, we saw a radicalisation of extreme positions between a ban on its use in school contexts, dazzle and optimism, sometimes also exaggerated, about its potential and the fear shown by some teachers about the end of the profession.
ChatGPT, and any other artificial intelligence tool, is freely accessible on the internet, making it a democratic tool that can be used by both teachers and students without the need for teachers to have any pedagogical intentions when using it. Costa et al. (2024) in a study on the use of ChatGPT by master's and doctoral students at Portuguese universities in an academic context, concluded that only 9% of students used it at the request of their teachers and at part of their teaching activity. However, it is already widely used by students, namely, to search for information, to find initial ideas for tackling a topic/concept and also as a tool to help with academic work and assessment.
It is therefore important to understand how teachers perceive the use of ChatGPT and how they are implementing its use in the teaching-learning process.
Using a qualitative methodology, based on semi-structured interviews with higher education teachers at a public university in Portugal, this work presents the perceptions and uses that teachers have of ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence tools.
References
Chomsky, N. (2023, Março 8). The False Promise of ChatGPT. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/08/opinion/noam-chomsky-chatgpt-ai.html
Costa, R., Costa, A. L., & Carvalho, A. A. (2024). Use of ChatGPT in Higher Education: A Study with Graduate Students. In A. de Bem Machado, M. J. Sousa, F. Dal Mas, S. Secinaro, & D. Calandra (Eds.), Digital Transformation in Higher Education Institutions (pp. 121–137). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-52296-3_7
García-Peñalvo, F. J. (2023). La percepción de la Inteligencia Artificial en contextos educativos tras el lanzamiento de ChatGPT: disrupción o pánico. Education in the Knowledge Society (EKS), 24. https://doi.org/10.14201/EKS.31279
