ChatGPT for Academic Purposes: Survey Among Undergraduate Healthcare Students in Malaysia

BACKGROUND

The impact of generative artificial intelligence-based Chatbots on medical education, particularly in Southeast Asia, is understudied regarding healthcare students' perceptions of its academic utility. Sociodemographic profiles and educational strategies influence prospective healthcare practitioners' attitudes toward AI tools.

AIM AND OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to assess healthcare university students' knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding ChatGPT for academic purposes. It explored chatbot usage frequency, purposes, satisfaction levels, and associations between age, gender, and ChatGPT variables.

METHODOLOGY

Four hundred forty-three undergraduate students at a Malaysian tertiary healthcare institute participated, revealing varying awareness levels of ChatGPT's academic utility. Despite concerns about accuracy, ethics, and dependency, participants generally held positive attitudes toward ChatGPT in academics.

RESULTS

Multiple logistic regression highlighted associations between demographics, knowledge, attitude, and academic ChatGPT use. MBBS students were significantly more likely to use ChatGPT for academics than BDS and FIS students. Final-year students exhibited the highest likelihood of academic ChatGPT use. Higher knowledge and positive attitudes correlated with increased academic usage. Most users (45.8%) employed ChatGPT to aid specific assignment sections while completing most work independently. Some did not use it (41.1%), while others heavily relied on it (9.3%). Users also employed it for various purposes, from generating questions to understanding concepts. Thematic analysis of responses showed students' concerns about data accuracy, plagiarism, ethical issues, and dependency on ChatGPT for academic tasks.

CONCLUSION

This study aids in creating guidelines for implementing GAI chatbots in healthcare education, emphasizing benefits, and risks, and informing AI developers and educators about ChatGPT's potential in academia.

Impact of a learning portfolio on reflective, clinical and communication skills in undergraduate dental students- A pilot study

This article was migrated. The article was not marked as recommended. Student portfolios are a collection of evidence, prepared by the student and evaluated by the faculty member to demonstrate mastery, comprehension, application, and synthesis of a given set of concepts. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of portfolio on student's self-reflection, clinical competency and communication skills in daily clinical practice and to know students perception on faculty feedback. A randomized controlled, triangulation study was conducted in Melaka-Manipal Medical College with thirty consenting Year IV BDS students as participants. There was statistically significant improvement for all the outcomes tested in the portfolio group compared to traditional logbook group.

The flipped classroom in dental education - Learning beyond the four walls of the classroom

This article was migrated. The article was not marked as recommended. Introduction: The 'Flipped Classroom' is a technology based approach, where the traditional class time and self-study activities are reversed or 'flipped'. In this model, low level cognitive skill like 'knowledge acquisition' are assigned to the students outside the classroom and activities that require higher cognitive skills like application and problem solving are done under the guidance of teacher in the classroom. We present a case study which was conducted at faculty of dentistry, Melaka Manipal Medical College to train year 3 dental students in prosthodontics using flipped model. Methods: The study was conducted at Faculty of Dentistry, Melaka Manipal Medical College, for the year 3 BDS students. We created four short videos, each of 15 minutes' duration, on the four cast partial denture topics. Reading materials and case examples were also provided to the students to go through before coming to class. For the classroom activity we chose real patient cases, with models and description. Students were asked to apply the principles and design a cast partial denture with justification to enhance critical thinking. Hands on experience on manipulation of impression materials was given to the students. We present a case study which was conducted at Faculty of Dentistry, Melaka-Manipal Medical College to train year 3 dental students in Prosthodontics using the flipped model. Results: Student reflections were collected and four main themes were generated which were qualitatively analyzed. Students highlighted that there was flexibility in learning and could revisit lectures whenever needed. They liked that the classroom activities were interactive and promoted collaborative and peer learning. Conclusion: The flipped classroom can enable students to be better prepared for the clinical experience and the teachers can expose them to problem solving and critical thinking components utilizing the teaching time allocated.

Heutagogy through Facebook for the Millennial learners

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Millennials are the most prevalent generation of medical learners today. These individuals have a unique outlook on education and have different preferences and expectations than their predecessors. The majority of our learners belong to the Millennial Generation, while most faculty belongs to the Baby Boomer or Generation X cohorts. Millennial learners have distinct perspectives on their learning needs that differ with their faculty's perspectives on teaching and learning. These learning differences may contribute to intergenerational conflict. In order to be successful teachers, it is important to educate ourselves on these generational differences and cater to the needs of the learners. Heutagogy is a self-determined approach of learning, which appears to suit the millennial learners. Derived from the word " Heureskein" which means to discover, the term heutagogy was coined to describe self-learning, independent of formal teaching. This adds yet another learning theory to the established fields of pedagogy (child learning) and andragogy (adult learning). Heutagogy acknowledges that learner do immensely valuable work for themselves by filling in the gaps of their formal education through discovery and reflection. Heutagogy offers models of learning that are (1) self-determined, (2) peer-led, and (3) non-linear. These characteristics map onto social media applications and the democratization of knowledge and information. Heutagogical approach is an extension of the traditional andragogical and adult learning frameworks through its emphasis on meta learning, or learning how to learn. This article presents the paradigm shift of educational strategies from pedagogy to andragogy to heutagogy and focuses on the ground principles governing heutagogy. It also describes an innovative case study where principles of heutagogy were applied to train dental students using Facebook.

Cooperative learning through jigsaw classroom technique for designing cast partial dentures - a comparative study

This article was migrated. The article was not marked as recommended. Objective: Objective of the study was to compare the jigsaw cooperative learning technique to the traditional lectures for learning cast partial denture designing. Method: Seventy-two fourth BDS students were randomly assigned into either the jigsaw or traditional lecture groups (n = 36). A pre-test on the topic 'designing of cast partial dentures' was administered to all students before the start of the study.The Jigsaw learning method was administered to the experimental group for 4 weeks. At the same time, the control group experienced the lecture-based learning method. At the end of 4 weeks, all students were re-tested (post-test) on the subject. A retention test was administered 3 weeks after the post-test. Mean scores were calculated for each test for the experimental and control groups, and the data obtained was analyzed using independent sample t-test. Results: No significant difference was determined between the jigsaw and lecture-based methods at pre-test. However, post-test and retention scores were better for jigsaw group with statistical significance. The highest mean test score was observed in the post-test with the jigsaw method. In the retention test, success with the jigsaw method was significantly higher than that with the lecture-based method. Conclusion: The jigsaw method can be used as an effective learning tool. However, different topics with varying complexity and different cohorts of students need to be tested in future studies.

Inheritance pattern of lip prints among Malay population: A pilot study

We assessed the resemblance of lip print patterns between parents and biological offspring in families of 31 Malay students as well as the distribution of different types of lip print in the study group. Only a few studies have successfully established the inheritance pattern of lip prints. Such studies can be population specific and need to be conducted in various populations. No such study have been conducted in Malay population in Malaysia, according to our knowledge. Present study was carried out to ascertain whether there is any inherence pattern in lip prints and thereby to investigate the potential role of lip prints in personal identification. We found 58.06% resemblance of lip print patterns between the parents and their biological offspring in our study. The influence of heredity in lip print pattern is still a new concept and there is lack of concrete evidence. The data from our study shows that there is potential influence of inheritance in the lip print patterns among the family members. Further researches involving larger samples size are suggested to derive more reliable and accurate results. The most common lip print pattern among the study group is type I (29.84%) followed by type II (23.12%), type III (22.45%), type I' (13.44%), type IV (9.54%) and type V (1.61%). Racial variations in lip print patterns and their prevalence may serve as an aid in forensic identification and crime scene investigation. The results of this pilot study will help in establishing guidelines for future researches on lip print analysis in Malaysia.

CONTEXT

Lip print patterns are unique and individualistic. However, there are some similarities in basic patterns of lip prints between family members which may be attributed to influence of inheritance.

AIMS

1. To determine the inheritance pattern of lip prints among Malay family members of the student. 2. To identify the distribution of different types of lip prints among Malay population.

SETTINGS

and

DESIGN

Observational pilot study.

METHODS AND MATERIAL

Lip prints of 124 individuals from 31 families consisting of father, mother and two children were recorded and classified based on Tsuchihashi Classification (1974).

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED

Statistical analysis was performed for resemblance pattern among family members (Karl-Pearson Correlation Coefficient) and inter-observer variability (Kappa test).

RESULTS

58.06% positive resemblance was found between parents and biological offspring. The highest lip print pattern in the study group was type I (29.84%) and the least was type V (1.61%).

CONCLUSIONS

There is positive resemblance in lip print patterns among family members which may be attributed to influence of inheritance. However, further studies with larger sample sizes need to be conducted to confirm the results. Type I lip print was the most prevalent pattern among the study subjects.