A Generative Artificial Intelligence Empowered Chatbot: System Usability and Student Teachers’ Experience

Generative Artificial Intelligence empowered conversational agents (chatbots) seem to be increasingly used in various settings including education. While student teachers are key stakeholders in supporting and improving education, not many studies exist in student teachers’ views on the educational use of chatbots. The current study performs a usability evaluation and explores student teachers’ views on the academic use of the VIP-Bot, an advanced academic Discord chatbot, which leverages the OpenAI’s gpt-3.5-turbo-instruct model. Student teachers, within the context of the formative task of writing a literature review, interacted with the chatbot and self-reported their experiences through an online survey. The usability evaluation returned a relatively high SUS score (76.36) for the chatbot. Moreover, student teachers’ view on the chatbot acceptance, effectiveness and motivation were positive. The chatbot can be helpful in developing ideas and initiating further engagement with the literature. Academic misconduct concerns have been expressed if the chatbot is not used properly. The study, as a usability evaluation, is an essential step in further chatbot development and, as an investigation of student teachers’ views, it is an essential step on the chatbot employment in teaching and learning.