Interactive Learning with ChatGPT: Hands-On Practice and Real-Time Feedback in Health Sciences Education for SMART Goal Writing

Abstract Physical therapy (PT) students often fail to master documentation skills, such as goal writing, because they struggle to engage in the material early in the curriculum. Therefore, we sought to leverage ChatGPT to create an active learning experience with personalized feedback and hands-on practice. During the activity, students (n=48) learned to use ChatGPT and employed these techniques to learn about goal writing in PT and the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound) framework. Next, students engaged in a clarifying lecture before using ChatGPT to generate scenarios for which they drafted or edited SMART goals and asked ChatGPT for feedback. Pre-tests and post-tests were used to measure the impacts of the experience and to capture student perspectives. As a function of the activity, students were better able to recognize the purposes of SMART goals (p<0.0001) and write better goals (p<0.0001). They also showed increased confidence in their abilities (p<0.0001). Furthermore, student responses suggested that they enjoyed the activity (m=3.5/4) and found it helpful (m=3.7/4). Following the activity, 27 students continued to use ChatGPT to practice or study. This activity represents a novel approach for using generative artificial intelligence (AI) in the classroom to help students actively explore the topic of goal writing. Additionally, this modeled responsible use of AI for health care applications. This well-received activity can be easily scaled to include more complex tasks or group discussions, or adapted for use as an asynchronous assignment related to documentation or topics across health science education. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Funding Statement This study did not receive any funding and the authors have no financial disclosures. Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: The research protocol was approved as an exempt research study by the A.T. Still University Arizona Institutional Review Board (#2023-142) and participants provided consent to have their responses analyzed through a signed informed consent process. I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes Footnotes Sara M. Parker, A.T. Still University, Department of Physical Therapy, 5850 E. Still Circle, Mesa, AZ 85206 USA, Email: saraparker{at}atsu.edu, Brittany L. Williams, Arizona State University, LX Design, 1151 S Forest Ave, Tempe, AZ 85281 USA, Email: brittany_williams{at}asu.edu Figures 2 and 4 have been updated to be more consistent with the shades of blue used to represent the pre- and post-test data, respectively throughout the paper. The data in these figures is identical to the prior version, only the colors used in select subplots have been updated. Data Availability The data used in this study are available upon written request to the corresponding author.