ChatGPT for educational-academic activities: Preschool student teachers’ experiences

Abstract

ChatGPT is a rapidly evolving Artificial Intelligence tool which has attracted wide interest in higher education. This study aims to provide evidence on the experiences of student teachers who have used ChatGPT for academic-educational activities. The participants were 17 Greek preschool student teachers and the data was collected via interviews. The findings indicated that positive experiences regard general benefits (e.g., fast generation of answers, ease of use, source of information), ChatGPT’s support for educational activities (planning educational practices, interventions, lesson plans), and provision of different perspectives and approaches (including strengthening children’s social skills and ICT integration). Experienced limitations-challenges include reliability, validity of information, general/vague answers (e.g., ideas for educational practices), and limited contextual understanding. Submission of multiple queries/prompts for the generation of more relevant information was experienced both as benefit and limitation. Students value and recommend ChatGPT as a useful, supportive tool for educational purposes, and highlight the necessity for enhancement of student skills and practices (e.g., to evaluate responses/output and sources of information, and ask specific queries). Implications for students, university policy and educators are discussed. Universities need to respond to AI technology changes, adopt-establish new policies and enforce sustainability.