AI-Supported Academic Advising: Exploring ChatGPT’s Current State and Future Potential toward Student Empowerment

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI), once a phenomenon primarily in the world of science fiction, has evolved rapidly in recent years, steadily infiltrating into our daily lives. ChatGPT, a freely accessible AI-powered large language model designed to generate human-like text responses to users, has been utilized in several areas, such as the healthcare industry, to facilitate interactive dissemination of information and decision-making. Academic advising has been essential in promoting success among university students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Unfortunately, however, student advising has been marred with problems, with the availability and accessibility of adequate advising being among the hurdles. The current study explores how AI-powered tools like ChatGPT might serve to make academic advising more accessible, efficient, or effective. The authors compiled a list of questions frequently asked by current and prospective students in a teacher education bachelor’s degree program in the United States. Then, the questions were typed into the free version of ChatGPT, and the answers generated were explored and evaluated for their content and delivery. ChatGPT generated surprisingly high-quality answers, written in an authoritative yet supportive tone, and it was particularly adept at addressing general and open-ended career-related questions, such as career outlook, in a clear, comprehensive, and supportive manner using plain language. We argue that AI-powered tools, such as ChatGPT, may complement but not necessarily replace human academic advisers and that these tools may very well serve to promote educational equity by empowering individuals from a wide range of backgrounds with the means to initiate effective methods of seeking academic advice.

A multinational study on the factors influencing university students’ attitudes and usage of ChatGPT

“…The ease of ChatGPT use is a notable feature of this tool promoting its widespread accessibility and usability 58 . As previously illustrated in various studies, ChatGPT responds to queries in various languages, with notable capabilities facilitating the generation of coherent responses 11,30,[80][81][82] . A study among university students in Jordan by Ajlouni et al showed that a majority of participants (73%) agreed on the potential of ChatGPT in facilitating the learning process 83 .…”

Factors Influencing Attitudes of University Students towards ChatGPT and its Usage: A Multi-National Study Validating the TAME-ChatGPT Survey Instrument

“…The ease of ChatGPT use is a notable feature of this tool promoting its widespread accessibility and usability [57]. As previously illustrated in various studies, ChatGPT responds to queries in various languages, with notable capabilities facilitating the generation of coherent responses [11,33,[70][71][72]. A recent study among university students in Jordan by Ajlouni et al showed that a majority of participants (73%) agreed on the potential of ChatGPT in facilitating the learning process [73].…”

The use of ChatGPT in teaching and learning: a systematic review through SWOT analysis approach

“…ChatGPT often generates reasonable responses in conversations, providing specialized solutions and guidance for tasks ranging from simple to complex (Zhu et al, 2023). For example, ChatGPT generated surprisingly high-quality answers in the area of academic advising for students, written in an authoritative tone, and especially, adept at addressing general career-related questions, such as career prospects, in a clear and comprehensive manner (Akiba and Fraboni, 2023). In the field of physics education, ChatGPT can solve some physics calculation tasks, explaining problem solutions at the human level (Liang et al, 2023).…”