ChatGPT—A Challenging Tool for the University Professors in Their Teaching Practice

Abstract

ChatGPT has aroused the users’ interest and provoked educators, researchers, and educational institutions about its role in education. Its proper integration into education can support teaching and learning activities and highlight the benefits of digital technologies. ChatGPT can be an intelligent learning assistant for learners and educators, supporting personalized and adaptive learning. At the same time, ChatGPT can be used unfairly and unethically, which causes severe concerns among educators, educational institutions, and society. Educators’ attitudes regarding their application, expectations, and concerns are very important in the emergence and introduction of new technological tools in education. The current paper aims to explore the opinion of university professors at a Bulgarian university regarding the possibilities and challenges of ChatGPT in carrying out teaching activities. The findings of the conducted survey show that university professors from Trakia University in Bulgaria have an overall positive attitude regarding the implementation of ChatGPT in their teaching practice (41.4%). They perceive ChatGPT as a means to support time-consuming teaching activities (60.9%), provoke interest, activate and engage learners (59.8%), and stimulate their critical thinking and creativity (47.1%). In parallel, the university professors are concerned about possible risks of its unethical use that threaten the validity and fairness of assessment practices. The most severe problem for them is the danger that learners will completely trust ChatGPT without checking the authenticity of the generated texts (73.6%), which can negatively affect the acquisition of knowledge and skills.

Keywords

• artificial intelligence
• ChatGPT
• higher education
• teaching
• university professors’ perceptions