Online Student and Faculty Perceptions of Generative AI

Students demonstrated a deep knowledge of generative AI.

However, they used generative AI tools more in personal and professional activities than they did in their Ecampus courses.

Students were skeptical about information provided by generative AI tools.

Most students disagreed with statements that the information was:

Students agreed that generative AI tools would impact their careers.

Most agreed that knowing how to use generative AI tools would help them get a job, help them at work and advance their careers.

Students experienced a lack of clarity in course policies.

Participants experienced many different policies and degrees of clarity in course policies regarding the use of generative AI.

Students expressed specific concerns about how generative AI tools would impact their education.

Specific concerns included that AI tools could:

Students expressed fewer hopes about generative AI compared to the number of concerns.

Students' hopes were more vague than their concerns. For example, students wrote about the impact of generative AI on:

Faculty were more knowledgeable of ethical considerations than teaching application of AI.

89% of faculty agreed they were knowledgeable of the ethical considerations of using AI, but only half agreed they understood the teaching applications of AI.

Faculty were concerned about generative AI tools.

The most frequently selected emotion about AI use was “concerned,” selected by nearly 80% of faculty.

In open-ended responses, faculty expressed concerns related to:

Faculty were confident in using AI but were less confident in using it specifically for online teaching.

More than two-thirds of faculty were confident in their ability to use generative AI, but fewer (43%) were confident in their ability to use it in their online teaching.

Faculty showed skepticism or uncertainty about positive impacts of AI on instructional practices.

25% strongly disagreed
19% disagreed
38% were unsure

...that generative AI would have a positive effect on instructional practices in their field over the next 5 years.

Faculty indicated that college and university-level support would be helpful to address AI in their courses.

The most frequently selected types of support were:

• College-level guidance (52%) • Repository of ways to address generative AI use (51%) • University-level guidance on appropriate AI use policies (48%)