John Richard Edwards

Aashish Ghimire, John Edwards

Emerging technologies like generative AI tools, including ChatGPT, are increasingly utilized in educational settings, offering innovative approaches to learning while simultaneously posing new challenges. This study employs a survey methodology to examine the policy landscape concerning these technologies, drawing insights from 102 high school principals and higher education provosts. Our results reveal a prominent policy gap: the majority of institutions lack specialized guide-lines for the ethical deployment of AI tools such as ChatGPT. Moreover,we observed that high schools are less inclined to work on policies than higher educational institutions. Where such policies do exist, they often overlook crucial issues, including student privacy and algorithmic transparency. Administrators overwhelmingly recognize the necessity of these policies, primarily to safeguard student safety and mitigate plagiarism risks. Our findings underscore the urgent need for flexible and iterative policy frameworks in educational contexts.

Aashish Ghimire, John Edwards

The burgeoning development of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) and the widespread adoption of large language models (LLMs) in educational settings have sparked considerable debate regarding their efficacy and acceptability.Despite the potential benefits, the assimilation of these cutting-edge technologies among educators exhibits a broad spectrum of attitudes, from enthusiastic advocacy to profound skepticism.This study aims to dissect the underlying factors influencing educators' perceptions and acceptance of GenAI and LLMs.We conducted a survey among educators and analyzed the data through the frameworks of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT). Our investigation reveals a strong positive correlation between the perceived usefulness of GenAI tools and their acceptance, underscoring the importance of demonstrating tangible benefits to educators. Additionally, the perceived ease of use emerged as a significant factor, though to a lesser extent, influencing acceptance. Our findings also show that the knowledge and acceptance of these tools is not uniform, suggesting that targeted strategies are required to address the specific needs and concerns of each adopter category to facilitate broader integration of AI tools.in education.