Writing a short literature review at university can be a useful assignment to develop a variety of academic (Sharples, 2022) and information literacy (IL) skills. However, recent technological developments have provided students with a new shortcut, artificial intelligence (AI), which can provide a coherent, albeit somewhat technical and stilted output (Sharples, 2022, p. 1122). As “AI-assisted writing is already deeply embedded into practices that students already use” (Fyfe, 2022, p. 2), the faculty and librarians at universities face numerous questions that challenge traditional practices of teaching students academic writing and supporting IL skills. The issues of plagiarism and bias (Fyfe, 2022), fake references (Sharples, 2022), opacity of algorithms (Lloyd, 2019), and questions about trust and neutrality (Haider & Sundin, 2022) are but a few of these questions.
This presentation focuses on an intervention of applying the GPT-3 in the process of writing students’ short literature reviews. Writing a short literature review has been a traditional task to support Information Management students’ IL skills during ‘Information Behavior Theories and Practices’ course at University of Tartu. During the spring semester of the 2022-23 academic year, this task was enhanced by adding a request to use GPT-3 (such as OpenAI playground) in the writing process and reflect upon using the new technology. Of particular interest in the reflections was the students’ perceived usage of AI, hence the research questions:
- How do students evaluate the usability of AI in terms of searching, evaluating, and presenting information?
- What are the benefits and problems related to using AI in process of writing?
During the introduction of this assignment, the usage of reflections in research was covered, including the possibility to opt-out at any time without any negative consequences. The students’ reflections (N=26) were analyzed using thematic analysis to identify themes related to using AI in academic writing process. Despite the initial excitement, the students presented critical attitudes toward the results provided by GPT-3. Nevertheless, AI provided help with translations, and sometimes finding new perspectives. In line with Dinneen & Buginger (2021), this study contributes to the discussions around the usage of AI in academic tasks that have predominantly benefitted from the domain of information literacy.
References
- Dinneen, J. D., & Bubinger, H. (2021). Not quite ‘Ask a Librarian’: AI on the nature, value, and future of LIS. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 58(1), 117–126.
- Fyfe, P. (2022). How to cheat on your final paper: Assigning AI for student writing. AI & SOCIETY, 1–11.
- Haider, J., & Sundin, O. (2022). Paradoxes of media and information literacy: The crisis of information. Taylor & Francis.
- Lloyd, A. (2019). Chasing Frankenstein’s monster: Information literacy in the black box society. Journal of Documentation, 75(6), 1475–1485.
- Sharples, M. (2022). Automated essay writing: An AIED opinion. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 32(4), 1119–1126.
Krista Lepik
University of Tartu, Estonia
English 
French