NLS Faculty Seminar | Challenges of ChatGPT for Higher Education and Policy Responses in Asia: Investigating the First Year of ChatGPT

In this week’s faculty seminar, Dr. Devyani Pande, Assistant Professor (Public Policy), NLSIU, will present a paper titled ‘Challenges of ChatGPT for higher education and policy responses in Asia: Investigating the first year of ChatGPT,’ that she co-authored with Dr. Panchali Guha, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Singapore Management University,

Abstract

Since its introduction in November 2022, ChatGPT, a generative AI (GenAI) model has disrupted higher education due to its impact on pedagogy, scientific writing, curriculum development, and educational assessment. Higher education systems (HEIs) and governments around the world are grappling with the issue of incorporating the use of ChatGPT in teaching and learning, and the potential impacts of doing so on educational quality and equity.

This study uses Factiva database to examine articles published in Asia in understanding the benefits and challenges of ChatGPT along with policy responses of the countries in the first year of its introduction. We conduct a thematic analysis of 1359 articles to find benefits for students and teachers, and challenges such as plagiarism, incorrect information, and impact on future jobs. The policy responses across countries at the level of governments and HEIs has been different with mostly a knee-jerk reaction of a ban followed by provision of guidelines for use of GenAI.

Based on the findings, we recommend introduction of training on the use of ChatGPT for educators and students, improving digital literacy in countries, adaptive policymaking for higher education, and coordination of HEIs and the governments to introduce measures for GenAI in higher education.