University professors and lecturers’ awareness and perspectives of employing ChatGPT: A Case of University students’ essay assignments

Abstract

Current literature lacks substantive empirical analysis of perceptions toward students employing ChatGPT as an academic writing assignment. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate university faculty members’ awareness and perspectives regarding ChatGPT’s use in student essay assignments. The study employed a cross-sectional survey design, particularly an online questionnaire distributed to all participants to gather their responses simultaneously. Drawing on data from 108 professors and lecturers, the study employs a quantitative descriptive design utilizing independent samples t-tests and ANOVA to analyze differences across gender, age, years of experience, and academic rank. Results indicate participants possess moderate-to-high familiarity with ChatGPT’s language generation capabilities while maintaining significant concerns about academic integrity and critical thinking development. The analysis reveals statistically significant differences in perceptions based on gender, professional experience, and academic position, though no meaningful variation emerged across age groups. These findings underscore the importance of targeted faculty development programs to address both the potential benefits and challenges of AI writing tools in higher education. This paper suggests opportunities for further qualitative research to deepen understanding of faculty attitudes toward ChatGPT integration in academic writing and highlights the need for balanced institutional approaches to technological adoption.