Abstract:

The implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) is a diverse landscape. Each institution may approach the integration of AI differently. A call to action is evident in the case of written assessments. This is because Generative AI in general and ChatGPT in particular have challenged written examinations at universities of applied sciences as proof of students' ability to carry out independent scientific work. In other words: As AI „becomes more sophisticated, there is an increasing worry that students could abuse these potent tools to write excellent essays and articles on their behalf“ (Jarrah 2023, p. 1). How can a University of Applied Sciences deal with this?

The presence of AI in academia is likely to be here to stay, and will most likely continue to improve. As such, it will shape the future of scholarly writing (Ray 2023), much like the transformative advent of the internet. This paper therefore argues for a shift in attitude towards empowerment rather than prohibition. Rather than seeing AI threatening academic integrity, this perspective argues that a proactive approach is needed. The focus shifts towards equipping students with the skills they need to navigate and use AI in a responsible way.

To achieve this, we are currently developing self-learning materials to empower our students in the Bachelor's and Masters’ program in Social Work. The purpose of these materials is twofold: On the one hand, students will learn the use of AI tools for different steps in the process of scientific writing (for the versatile use of ChatGPT in various writing tasks see e.g. Imram and Almusharraf 2023). For example, there is a material explaining how to use ChatGPT to generate and refine a research question, or material on the search for adequate literature with the AI tool Litmap. On the other hand, these materials include reflections on the operating principles of these AI tools, so that students are enabled to see the potentials as well as the dangers. As a result, they will be able to apply these insights to other AI tools.

In the presentation, we will make such basic considerations about the role of AI in scientific work, and we will present examples of self-learning materials. We will also briefly discuss the results of a survey that we conducted with a number of students after they had tested drafts of the learning materials.

References:
[1] Imram, M.; Almusharraf, N. (2023). Analyzing the role of ChatGPT as a writing assistant at higher education level: A systematic review of the literature. In: Contemporary Educational Technology, 15(4). DOI: 10.30935/cedtech/13605
[2] Jarrah, M. A.; Wardat, Y; Fidalgo, P. (2023). Using ChatGPT in academic writing is (not) a form of plagiarism: What does the literature say? In: Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 13(4). DOI: 10.30935/ojcmt/13572
[3] Ray, P. P. (2023). ChatGPT: A comprehensive review on background, applications, key challenges, bias, ethics, limitations and future scope. In: Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems 3, 121–154. DOI: 10.1016/j.iotcps.2023.04.003

Keywords:

Artificial Intelligence, Scientific Writing, Education.