When it comes to using AI, students outperform faculty in both frequency and depth of use of technological tools.
Photo Illustration: Justin Morrison/Inside Higher Ed | Getty Images
Students continue to outpace faculty when it comes to using generative artificial intelligence, according to two unrelated studies.
More than half (51%) of college students in the spring semester said AI helped them improve their grades, up from 47% last fall. Even more students (56%) said AI has helped them become more efficient, up 7 percentage points from last semester, according to a Pearson report released Monday.
Additionally, while proofreading and conceptual clarification remain students' primary uses for AI, the survey found that students want to explore the technology more in-depth in a variety of ways, including using AI in the future to solve problems without providing the answer (44%), create study materials (43%), brainstorm ideas (42%), and summarize class notes (41%).
Meanwhile, a separate faculty survey released Thursday by higher education consulting firm Ithaca S+R found that while teachers are increasingly familiar with AI, they often don't know how to use it in their classrooms. The Ithaca report found that while two in five teachers are familiar with AI, only 14% say they're confident they can use it in the classroom. Slightly more, at 18%, say they understand the impact of generative AI on education.
“Serious concerns about academic integrity, ethics, accessibility and effectiveness of education have contributed to this uncertainty and hostility,” the Ithaca report said.
Differing opinions about AI are causing friction: Nearly a third of students said their professors had warned them not to use generative AI, and more than half (59%) were concerned they would be accused of cheating with it, according to a Pearson report that surveyed 800 students in partnership with Morning Consult.
The Ithaca poll showed similar results. Of the 2,600 faculty surveyed, 42 percent said they do not allow students to use generative AI in their classes.
Students are also increasingly concerned about misinformation produced by generative AI, with 59% saying they're worried about it, up six points from when Pearson asked the question last fall.
Students also said they are seeing more reports of AI misinformation and are increasingly receiving it directly from the AI tools themselves, with 27 percent saying the AI provided made-up or incorrect answers.
Despite concerns from both students and faculty, generative AI is still making inroads in the classroom, according to an Ithaca survey conducted in February and March. Nearly three-quarters of faculty (72%) said they are using generative AI for at least one teaching purpose. The most common use was designing course materials (22%), followed by assisting with email and other administrative tasks (16%) and creating images (15%).
The two reports reinforce a survey last fall that also found that students are outpacing faculty in using AI. Higher education institutions themselves are doing little to address AI: A survey of college presidents found that the majority of universities have no AI policies in place at all. Inside Higher Education It was implemented earlier this year, but about 80 percent of colleges have conducted training to address faculty concerns and questions.
The Ithaka report found that younger faculty had higher adoption rates and overall familiarity with generative AI. As faculty got older, this trend decreased. Faculty age 65 and older had the lowest adoption rates, with roughly a quarter (26%) saying they were familiar with generative AI in general. Among other age groups, nearly 40% or more of faculty said they were familiar with this emerging technology.
