Appleget Publishes Research on the Use of Generative AI in Teacher Preparation

Carin Appleget, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Education, published "An Exploration of Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions of Generative AI: Applying the Technological Acceptance Model," in the peer-reviewed Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education. She and her research colleague, Shuling Yang, from the Eastern Tennessee State University, have been including opportunities for preservice teachers to use and explore GenAI in their Reading and Language Arts Methods courses. 

Since its shift into public view in November 2022, Generative AI (GenAI) has had a widespread and transformative impact on the world. GenAI has the potential to reshape the way teachers teach and students learn, but educators have mixed responses to its ubiquitous use. As teacher educators, Appleget and Yang are committed to preparing teachers to think critically about the benefits and challenges inherent in the use of GenAI so they are prepared for its use in their future profession. This study focused on preservice teacher perceptions about and attitudes toward using generative technologies, such as ChatGPT and Bing, as a teaching tool. Preservice teachers used a GenAI tool of their choice to generate questions for interactive read-alouds with elementary students. Findings showed that students found the GenAI generated questions to be useful, but emphasized the need for critical reasoning. Results also showed a positive correlation between the use of GenAI in the activity and PSTs’ intentions to use GenAI in the future. Appleget and Yang have two related research articles under review. One about effective prompting practices for GenAI and the other on the use of GenAI for lesson planning. They look forward to further exploration of GenAI as a tool for teachers.