Abstract:

The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) has fundamentally altered the landscape of teaching and learning. Students’ learning experience and attitude are drastically different from those of five years ago, before ChatGPT was launched. Understanding how students actually use AI for learning and how usage patterns differ across educational stages has become a critical issue for educators and researchers. This survey study investigated how students at the secondary and tertiary levels integrate into their academic work and examined their usage patterns, perceptions of the benefits, concerns, and metacognitive strategies they employ.

Data were collected from 91 students (81.3% female and 18.7% male) across secondary schools, colleges, and graduate schools in Taiwan through a comprehensive survey measuring AI usage, perceived benefits, ethical attitudes, and metacognitive strategies. Quantitative analysis, including cross-tabulation with chi-square tests and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) tests, was employed to compare across three educational levels: secondary, college, and graduate. The quantitative data were cross-referenced with qualitative responses from an open-ended question about AI’s role in learning.

The results showed that while students from three different educational levels held a positive attitude towards incorporating AI into learning, secondary and college students did not benefit from AI as significantly as graduate students did in terms of language ability, work quality, and learning efficiency. Secondary students reported significantly fewer concerns about originality and plagiarism, while college and graduate students emphasized the importance of transparency when using AI. Furthermore, secondary and college students were more likely to accept AI-generated content at face value and were least likely to discuss it with their instructors or peers compared to graduate students. Graduate students were likely to have more training with AI and research ethics, demonstrating that ethical awareness increases with educational levels. The study results indicate that AI literacy needs to be developed at earlier stages. Educational programs must cultivate AI literacy and responsible practices to maximize students’ learning while advocating academic integrity.

Keywords:

Artificial intelligence, AI tools, students’ perceptions, higher education, secondary education.