Evaluating University Students’ Work-Habits in the Era of ChatGPT

Abstract

Education is a vital aspect of our lives. Learning through different technologies such as ChatGPT is a possible way to establish a strong and effective learning environment. In Pakistan, education system is not updated, and it still supported traditional strategies and pedagogies in classroom. So, to make Pakistani education system efficient and effective, integration of innovative technologies like ChatGPT would be an interesting support to all students and teachers. The aim of the study was to analyse the university students’ work-habits in the era of ChatGPT specifically evaluate the impact of ChatGPT on university students’ Productivity level, learning outcomes, communication skills and work ethic. In this study, researchers used mixed-method approach. Two universities were selected to collect data (i) National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad & (ii) University of Punjab (PU), Lahore. From NUST university there was 2 groups of students selected. The number of respondents were 43 for 1st NUST group and for 2nd NUST group, there were 38 number of respondents. So, the total number of respondents from NUST were 81. And the total number of respondents were 32 from PU. The total number of respondents in this study was 113. To evaluate the students’ work-habits, researcher developed survey-based questionnaire which was consists of 24- number of items. SPSS was adopted for quantitative data analysis. And semi-structure interviews and observations used for collected qualitative data. Quantitative data analysis showed distribution of factors influencing respondents, with Productivity level at 25.50%, learning outcomes at 26.22%, communication skills at 26.13%, and work ethic at 22.15%. Overall, Productivity level and learning outcomes contribute significantly, comprising over half of the total factors considered in the survey. Additionally, qualitative study also showed that ChatGPT has a significant impact on university students’ work habits especially on productivity level, learning outcomes, and communication skills. The results also showed ChatGPT has positive impact on university students’ work ethic. Alongside the results, this study also showed that it is needed to keep in mind ethical considerations while using ChatGPT.