How should we change teaching and assessment in response to increasingly powerful generative Artificial Intelligence? Outcomes of the ChatGPT teacher survey

Abstract

AbstractThere has been widespread media commentary about the potential impact of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) such as ChatGPT on the Education field, but little examination at scale of how educators believe teaching and assessment should change as a result of generative AI. This mixed methods study examines the views of educators (n = 318) from a diverse range of teaching levels, experience levels, discipline areas, and regions about the impact of AI on teaching and assessment, the ways that they believe teaching and assessment should change, and the key motivations for changing their practices. The majority of teachers felt that generative AI would have a major or profound impact on teaching and assessment, though a sizeable minority felt it would have a little or no impact. Teaching level, experience, discipline area, region, and gender all significantly influenced perceived impact of generative AI on teaching and assessment. Higher levels of awareness of generative AI predicted higher perceived impact, pointing to the possibility of an ‘ignorance effect’. Thematic analysis revealed the specific curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment changes that teachers feel are needed as a result of generative AI, which centre around learning with AI, higher-order thinking, ethical values, a focus on learning processes and face-to-face relational learning. Teachers were most motivated to change their teaching and assessment practices to increase the performance expectancy of their students and themselves. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings in a world with increasingly prevalent AI.