Exploring with AI Pioneers: Experiences of Students at a Selective Liberal Arts College

• In Event: Sociology of Education Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 5. Navigating AI in the Current Educational landscape

Abstract

In the past several years, generative AI models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini have become widely available. These models have a wide variety of possible applications but their use by students has received a large amount of attention due to implications for teaching and learning. Concerns include the loss of students’ abilities to write, solve problems, and even to think. These concerns strike at the heart of the ideals of liberal arts colleges, which have traditionally provided students with more intimate settings for the exploration of ideas. This research uses in-depth interviews to explore student perceptions of, and justifications for, AI use at a selective liberal arts college.

Author

• Brent Harger, Gettysburg College