Research Question:
How do college students—particularly those enrolled in a technical, STEM-oriented program—use AI tools like ChatGPT in their classes?
Project Summary:
I am working with Dr. Ronald C. Lasky, a professor at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth; Abby Anthes, a junior at Dartmouth; and Phoebe Yang, a sophomore at West Point on our paper entitled “AI: Reality vs. Hype: A Student Perspective,” which will be presented at the SMTA PanPac conference in Maui, Hawaii in late January. We essentially want to understand how (college) students interact with and use AI in their classes—particularly in engineering classes or classes that are technical/math heavy. Some of the questions we hope to answer include: Do most students use AIs like ChatGPT? How? Is it OK with their professors? Do students think that the AIs do a good job? (Why or why not?) Specifically, can AIs answer homework problems in engineering that require calculations? What perspective do students have on how AIs will affect education? Will it be good or bad, or a mix? Do AIs play a major role in students’ educational experience? We will all conduct our own interviews and then synthesize our findings into one research paper and prepare a talk for the conference. In the Spring, I hope to expand on this research by interviewing a broader range of undergraduates and preparing a white paper with potential policy recommendations and/or considerations for professors.
Student: Jane Lackley (Computer Science, Mathematics '26)
Collaborators: Dr. Ronald C. Lasky, Adelson Teh (Graduate student mentor)