Engineering Education in the Era of ChatGPT: Promise and Pitfalls of Generative AI for Education

By Junaid Qadir. IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference, 2023

743 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Engineering education is constantly evolving to keep up with the latest technological developments and meet the changing needs of the engineering industry. One promising development in this field is the use of generative artificial intelligence technology, such as the ChatGPT conversational agent. ChatGPT has the potential to offer personalized and effective learning experiences by providing students with customized feedback and explanations, as well as creating realistic virtual simulations for hands-on learning. However, it is important to also consider the limitations of this technology. ChatGPT and other generative AI systems are only as good as their training data and may perpetuate biases or even generate and spread misinformation. Additionally, the use of generative AI in education raises ethical concerns such as the potential for unethical or dishonest use by students and the potential unemployment of humans who are made redundant by technology. While the current state of generative AI technology represented by ChatGPT is impressive but flawed, it is only a preview of what is to come. It is important for engineering educators to understand the implications of this technology and study how to adapt the engineering education ecosystem to ensure that the next generation of engineers can take advantage of the benefits offered by generative AI while minimizing any negative consequences.

Subfields: Artificial Intelligence, Health Informatics, Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/d553d008f643622e87e3ac061226865cad3b2928

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Citations in the corpus

Impact of ChatGPT on learners in a L2 writing practicum: An exploratory investigation (2023, background): “A consensus in the power of ChatGPT for education was reached in piloting studies in which its equivalence to an early-stage learners was articulated (Gilson et al., 2022; Qadir, 2022).”
The Potential of Generative Artificial Intelligence Across Disciplines: Perspectives and Future Directions (2023, neutral): “76 Virtual tutors can also help in language learning.”
The AI Revolution in Education: Will AI Replace or Assist Teachers in Higher Education? (2023, positive): “Generative AI technologies such as ChatGPT are capable of acting as a virtual intelligent tutor (Qadir, 2022), some teachers work with generative AI technologies to engage in personalized learning.”
The Robots Are Here: Navigating the Generative AI Revolution in Computing Education (2023, background): “The broader literature on LLMs and their potential effects is often organized around the dichotomy of opportunities and risks [44, 100, 151, 174].”
Experimental evidence on the productivity effects of generative artificial intelligence (2023, methodology): “More generally, tools like ChatGPT could make expertise more accessible by facilitating learning (30).”
To resist it or to embrace it? Examining ChatGPT’s potential to support teacher feedback in EFL writing (2023, neutral): “…ChatGPT’s implications for teaching and learning (Garcia-Peñalvo, 2023; Rudolph et al., 2023; Zhai, 2022) and exploring its potential use in various subjects, such as journalism and media (Pavlik, 2023), medicine (Gilson et al., 2022; Khan et al., 2023), and engineering education (Qadir, 2022).”
Exploring the potential of an AI-based Chatbot (ChatGPT) in enhancing English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching: perceptions of EFL Faculty Members (2023, neutral): “Additionally, some teachers express concerns about ChatG - PT’s potential negative impact, such as over-reliance on the tool and the loss of the importance of human interaction in language learning (Qadir, 2022).”
Large Language Models for Education: A survey and outlook (2024, neutral): “For instance, some studies have investigated the role of ChatGPT in engineering education by analyzing its responses to pedagogical questions.”
New Era of Artificial Intelligence in Education: Towards a Sustainable Multifaceted Revolution (2023, background): “smart content, may also supplement traditional learning techniques by providing students with additional material and interactive experiences that improve their understanding of complex concepts [34,40].”