A majority of educators use ChatGPT to write lesson plans, student feedback, emails, and letters of recommendation.

Are educators using ChatGPT to write lesson plans?


Majority of teachers use ChatGPT to write lesson plans, student feedback, emails, and letters of recommendation

Key points:

  • ChatGPT is quickly becoming the AI tool of choice for teachers and students
  • Many educators say the AI tool saves them time and offers great suggestions

A whopping 97 percent of respondents in a recent survey say they ‘frequently’ or ‘sometimes’ use ChatGPT to write lesson plans. Likewise, 93 percent of teachers say they use the AI platform to grade and provide feedback for students, 91 percent say to write emails, and 89 percent say to write letters of recommendation.

A survey of 1,000 high school, undergraduate, and graduate educators who are aware of ChatGPT, from online degree ranking and higher-ed planning site Intelligent.com, examines the prevalence of ChatGPT usage among both students and educators.

Among the top reasons for using the tool, 42 percent of teachers say it saves them time, 41 percent say it provides good suggestions, and 17 percent say it helps them understand ChatGPT’s capabilities.

“There’s no denying that while teaching can be a fulfilling and empowering profession, a great deal of time is used for developing lesson plans, creating assignments, reviewing homework, and much more,” said Blanca Villagomez, Intelligent.com’s education advisor. “Using ChatGPT for lesson planning can help teachers create lesson plans faster and more efficiently.”

According to survey results, 8 in 10 teachers say they ‘always’ or ‘sometimes’ approve of student use of ChatGPT. Among this group, 97 percent say they ‘frequently’ or ‘sometimes’ give assignments that require the use of ChatGPT.

Aside from these ChatGPT-required assignments, 2 in 3 teachers believe many of their students submit work they used ChatGPT to complete.

Only 28 percent of teachers say they have specific classroom policies around ChatGPT use, while 45 percent say they currently use AI detection tools.

All data found within this report derives from a survey commissioned by Intelligent.com and conducted online by survey platform Pollfish from March 30 to April 4, 2023. In total, 1,000 United States high school teachers, undergraduate professors, and graduate professors were surveyed.

Related:
3 academic leaders weigh in on ChatGPT’s place in higher ed

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