Abstract:

Introduction:
Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a science fiction idea but has become a technology that is radically changing the world. In the 2023-2024 academic year, the professors of the Department of Physiology at the University of Seville have implemented a Teaching Innovation Project that involves using AI as a tool for studying the syllabus taught in the department's subjects. The aim of this project is to explore the potential of AI as a teaching tool for Physiology in the classroom.

Methodology:
The project targeted students enrolled in Physiology subjects within the Pharmacy (PD), Optics-Optometry (OOD), and the dual Pharmacy & Optics-Optometry (POOD) degree programs during the 2023-2024 academic year. The courses involved were: Human Physiology I & II (HPI, HPII), Human Physiology (HP), Pathophysiology (PP), Cellular Biology and Histology (CBH), Physiology of the Visual System (PVS), and Physiology in Health Promotion (PHP). Participation was voluntary, with an incentive of up to 5% extra credit for completing the tasks.
At the start of each course, professors introduced the project, explaining its goals and supervising the process. Students used the AI tool ChatGPT 3.5 to generate two summaries of a course topic: one with bibliographic references and one without. They compared the two summaries to assess differences and verified the accuracy of the AI-generated content using traditional academic sources. The final deliverables included a two-page report with their findings, observations, and recommendations, along with a graphical abstract summarizing the information. The project was evaluated through surveys completed by both students and professors, assessing the usefulness of AI and educational innovations.

Results:
A total of 176 students and 19 professors actively participated in this innovative educational project. Most of the participants, both students (70%) and professors (75%), were women. The majority of student participants (60%) were enrolled in HPI and HPII. Although many students were already familiar with AI tools, a significant portion from HP (41%) and CBH (43%) had never used them before this project. Despite being aware that AI does not always provide reliable information (77-100%), most students (67-92%) plan to use it in the future for classwork or studying. However, students from HP (53%), CBH (86%), and PVS (83%) questioned the ethics of using AI for academic use and preferred traditional sources. Among the professors, most (68%) had used AI tools for academic purposes. Interestingly, all professors under the age of 50 planned to use AI and supported its use by students, whereas 20% of professors over 50 did not support its use in this context.

Conclusion:
Most participating students and professors find AI an attractive tool to approach the study of Physiology subjects, although a non-negligible number of participants reject its use due to ethical and reliability concerns.

Keywords:

Artificial Intelligence, Physiology, Educational Innovation, University, Health Science.