Abstract:

After the AI chatbot from the US company OpenAI was made available to the public at the end of November 2022, there was a great deal of hype surrounding this technology, which naturally also reached the education sector. This study focuses on the perceptions and experiences of first semester students on Mechatronics and Industrial Engineering programmes regarding the use of AI chatbots in a physics course, comprising lectures and exercises. The aim is to answer the question of whether, how and to what extent AI chatbots should be taken into account in the design of the course. To assess students´ perception, two surveys were conducted: one at the beginning and one at the end of the semester. Additionally, an introductory presentation on the use of AI chatbots in the context of physics was given, followed by practical exercises solved with the assistance of these chatbots. A technology acceptance model was applied to analyze student acceptance and maintained the predictor variables 'performance expectancy', 'effort expectancy', 'social influence' and 'hedonic motivation'. Initial findings revealed that a majority of students had previous experience with AI chatbots, using them occasionally or even daily. The application of AI chatbots in the course was generally found to be user-friendly, offering a novel and interesting learning experience with minimal cognitive effort required from the students. However, the predictor variable 'social influence' scored the lowest in terms of acceptance. The students' biggest concern was that chatbots could misunderstand questions or give incorrect answers. The feedback at the end of the semester showed that the assessment of the plausibility of the answers given by AI chatbots was received positively. However opinions on the extent of AI chatbot usage were mixed, with some concerns about potential negative impacts on study time allocation and exam preparation. Students' comparatively low agreement with the predictor variable 'social influence' suggests that if AI chatbots are more widely incorporated into course design, further support measures are required, such as the collaborative learning approach.

Keywords:

AI Chatbots, STEM Education, Physics Course, Technology Acceptance Model.