The College of Business is sending three students to present papers focusing on UCA students’ usage of AI at the Decision Science Institute’s 56th Annual Conference in November.
The conference, hosted in Orlando, Florida, is focused around studies on the collaborations between humans and technology. The conference will take place from Nov. 22-24.
The presenting students are Robert Walker, Madison Willis and Oluwadamilola Osundolire.
In total, it cost the university $5,000 to send the students to the conference – money which came from the College of Business’ student fee.
The papers, whose data comes from campus surveys done during the 23-24 and 24-25 academic years, cover the different ways students use AI and what exactly they use it for.
“The most likely category is information-seeking,” Dr. Alexander Chen, the head of the study, said. “The second important one is writing. The third one is graphics.”
Chen said the initial survey had 672 students participating.
The survey’s results were published on March 12, 2024. It found that 61.7% of participants consider themselves “light users” of AI, with 15.8% considering themselves medium and 3.8% considering themselves heavy users.
In terms of frequency, 21% said they use AI once a week, while 16.8% said they use it multiple times a week.
Osundolire’s paper found the average mean for students using AI for information is 3.38 with a 2.1 standard deviation – making it the most common reason for student usage.
Grammar and spelling was the second highest mean, sitting at 3.27.
Despite the growing question of AI in academics, Chen said he believes AI will be an important part of education for years to come.
“AI can really help us train students to be more critical and analytical,” Chen said. “AI can stimulate your creativity, thinking and productivity.”
Chen said, “Faculty should be more proactive when coaching people how to utilize it to be a tool instead of worrying about students having their homework all done by AI.”
Chen said students who are more proficient in productive AI use are going to be more desirable candidates for employers compared to those who are not.
“AI will help with people’s critical thinking. If a UCA student is good with AI, they’ll be so employable,” Chen said.
In alignment with his philosophy, Chen teaches an AI course in the College of Business called AI for Management, which trains students on how to use AI as a way to enhance management skills.
“I’m a big advocate of AI in all my classes,” Chen said. “I encourage [students] to use it.”
Going forward, Chen said the College of Business is performing another study focusing on the relationship between AI and knowledge retention.
“If you use AI, you may not remember everything because AI does everything for you,” Chen said. “But would it enhance people’s ability to absorb and retain certain knowledge?”
Chen said the survey is currently in its approval process and will be sent out later in the academic year.
