Research funded by AdvanceHE (Jan – July 2024) and led by the University of Aberdeen, in collaboration with Edinburgh Napier University, Heriot-Watt University and the University of Dundee, indicated:
- GenAI usage varies, with 38% of staff and students reporting that they rarely or never use GenAI tools to support their professional practice / university studies,
- Professional services staff used GenAI tools most often, with 48% of professional services staff reporting using GenAI tools frequently (once or more per week). This figure is 11% higher than the percentage reported by students and 16% higher than the percentage reported by academic staff
- Many staff (60%) and students (65%) think that GenAI tools pose a threat to critical thinking in universities
- Students and staff differed on which tasks were acceptable uses of GenAI tools by staff, with students indicating far fewer acceptable uses by staff
- There was more agreement between staff and students on which tasks were acceptable uses of GenAI tools by students
- While most universities have GenAI policies/guidelines, 47% of student responders were unaware of them
- Most (>50%) staff and students identified the need to develop skills in critically evaluating the outputs, ethical implications, prompt engineering, copyright and Intellectual Property Rights, how GenAI tools work, identifying limitations and biases, selecting GenAI tools for specific tasks.
What tasks were acceptable uses of GenAI tools?
There were 3 tasks that most (> 50%) staff and students indicated were acceptable for staff to use GenAI tools for: language translation, helping to understand new/complex concepts and summarising long documents.
There were an additional 7 tasks that most (> 50%) staff felt were acceptable for staff to use GenAI tools for, which include but are not limited to: generation of text (e.g. for emails, social media posts), generation of images, generation of learning materials/activities/course structure, generation of quizzes / assessment, enhancing staff-created content.
In terms of what tasks were acceptable for students to use GenAI tools for, most (>50%) students and staff agreed on 7 tasks, which include but are not limited to: helping to understand new / complex concepts, as a “study partner / buddy”, generating and enhancing text not submitted for assessment (e.g. emails, discussion posts), summarising long documents, generation of ideas.
What tasks were unacceptable uses of GenAI tools?
Few (<25%) students and academic staff think it is acceptable for staff to use GenAI tools for marking students’ assessments and for generating feedback to students. Few (<25%) students thought that it was acceptable for staff to use GenAI tools for generating marking criteria and/or rubrics. Similarly, few (<25%) students and academic staff think it is acceptable for students to use GenAI tools for generating content for assessments including generating code, prototypes, models, music score, lyrics.
What are you doing to help students understand what is acceptable use?
From this work we have generated a set of resource cards that can be used to facilitate conversations around the use of GenAI tools. Have you created any other examples or resources that help staff or students distinguish what is acceptable? Share your approach on how you are guiding staff or students on what is acceptable use of GenAI tools in your subject area by commenting on this blog post or contacting us. By sharing ideas, strategies and reflections we can develop a more open and nuanced approach to supporting students in using GenAI tools responsibly.
What are the implications for the use of GenAI tools in universities?
Universities can foster appropriate engagement with GenAI tools by:
- Showcasing the capabilities of GenAI tools and encouraging experimentation and discovery
- Addressing concerns about accuracy and ethics through transparent communications and discussion forums
- Sharing evidence of productivity improvements, to inspire engagement
- Encouraging open dialogue to share experiences and address concerns
- Establishing clear guidelines for the ethical and responsible use of GenAI tools
What next?
Funding from The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland is enabling the researchers to refine and redeploy the survey across Scottish higher education institutions. Other activities include facilitating focus groups on the impact of GenAI tools on the creative industries and evaluating resources designed to facilitate institutional conversations on the use of GenAI tools in education.
