Improving Annual Plans Developed through Traditional Methods with ChatGPT: The Experiences of Doctoral Students

The aim of this study is to evaluate the contributions of the AI tool, ChatGPT, used by doctoral students to improve their annual plans, and to examine the advantages and challenges that arise throughout the process. The research was conducted using a qualitative case study approach and carried out with 13 doctoral students. The data were analyzed by content analysis, the themes obtained from the analysis result were explained in detail using student quotes. The study identified themes related to ChatGPT's contributions to annual plan improvement, its advantages and disadvantages in education, and the barriers to its usage. Additionally, students' perspectives on ChatGPT were examined. The findings reveal that students generally have a positive outlook on using ChatGPT although some students expressed cautious and critical attitudes, voicing concerns about AI usage. While ChatGPT offers advantages such as addressing shortcomings, generating new ideas, clarifying learning outcomes, and saving time, it also presents disadvantages, including a reduction in teacher-student interaction, issues with objectivity, and the potential stifling of critical thinking skills. Furthermore, challenges such as access limitations, language barriers, and technical infrastructure issues were found to restrict the effective use of this technology.