Engineering PhD students’ perception and experience with ChatGPT in research communication: Pedagogical insights

Abstract

The capability and threats of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools such as ChatGPT have been increasingly explored in higher education, where user perception and experience are essential for pedagogy and policy purposes. This study investigated Engineering PhD students’ perception and experience with ChatGPT in research communication in an Australian university. It also explored their attitudes towards scientific texts generated by ChatGPT. The findings show that participants used ChatGPT mainly to improve language, and they were well-informed about its strengths and limitations. Around 80% of the participants preferred ChatGPT-generated texts to human-written texts, with the former deemed well-structured and easy to understand. However, about half of the participants could not identify the text type. Based on the findings, this paper proposed a writing support program to assist engineering graduate researchers in developing writing self-efficacy and GenAI self-efficacy, so that a common understanding can be fostered for ethical practice in research communication.