Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) as a Feedback Source in Higher Education

With the rapid advancement of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) technology, the use of various GenAI tools in educational settings has surged. In higher education, students are increasingly adopting GenAI tools, particularly GenAI platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot, for a variety of purposes. A prevalent application of these tools is using them to receive feedback on academic tasks, such as essay writing. Exploring the potential of GenAI in this context is crucial, especially given the challenge teachers face in delivering timely, personalized, and scalable feedback amidst high workloads. The use of GenAI as a feedback source for essay writing is a promising yet novel area of research. This PhD project seeks to uncover the potential of GenAI for providing feedback in higher education. To achieve this, the project will investigate various dimensions of GenAI as a feedback source. Study 1 will begin with a systematic literature review to provide a comprehensive overview of existing research on GenAI feedback, laying the groundwork for subsequent studies. Study 2 will focus on designing and implementing GenAI feedback prompts, recognizing that effective prompt engineering is critical for optimizing GenAI feedback. This study will also compare the quality of feedback generated by different prompts. Study 3 will examine how students engage with and utilize GenAI feedback in their writing tasks, exploring the extent to which many types of feedback enhance their essay writing. Finally, Study 4 will investigate the role of GenAI feedback literacy, analyzing how students’ understanding and skills in using GenAI feedback influence the effectiveness of different prompts in improving their writing. By following these studies, this project aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of GenAI’s potential as a feedback source in essay writing. The findings from these studies have the potential to significantly contribute to both research and practice related to the use of GenAI for feedback. From a research perspective, the project will deepen our understanding of how to design and implement effective GenAI feedback prompts for writing tasks. On the practical side, it could offer valuable insights into reducing teachers' workload by enabling the delivery of timely, personalized, and scalable feedback in higher education settings.