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The integration of ChatGPT into academic environments represents a cultural and pedagogical shift, challenging assumptions about learning and academic integrity. This mixed-methods study examines ChatGPT use among engineering students and faculty at an English-language university. Quantitative data were collected via surveys from 89 students and 23 faculty members; qualitative data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with four faculty members. Results reveal a usage gap between students (58.5% frequent use) and faculty (21.7%), alongside faculty concerns about critical thinking and skill development. Thematic analysis shows that educators perceive ChatGPT as both a productivity aid and a pedagogical risk, prompting redesign of assessments and reliance on oral verification of learning. Drawing on Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development, the findings conceptualise ChatGPT as a digital scaffold when it extends learners’ capabilities, but as an external crutch when used without reflective engagement. This tension helps explain generational divides in perceptions of appropriate AI use.
Tsakalerou et al. (Fri,) studied this question.