An Exploration on Pre-Service Health Teachers' Engagement with Generative AI in a University Pedagogy Course

Objectives The purpose of this study was to explore how pre-service health teachers had engaged with Generative AI for their learning at the course of Educational Sociology in the Teacher Preparation program. Methods The author collected the weekly logs and assignments conducted by 17 pre-service health teachers enrolled in the course “Educational Sociology” about their uses of generative AI for learning throughout the semester. Additionally, the study includes observations and recordings of their presentations and discussions on the uses of generative AI based on their learning experiences during the course. The collected data were analyzed using a step-by-step procedure with N-vivo. Results The pre-service health teachers in this course engaged with generative AI to comprehend and deepen their understanding of the learning material. Through conversations and discussions with generative AI, they were able to expand their thoughts on the subject matter. Additionally, the pre-service health teachers improved their writing skills with the assistance of generative AI and actively employed it for exploring resources. Conclusions In university teacher training courses, generative AI can be utilized as a tool for personalized questions without the constraints of time and space, a counterpart for in-depth conversations about course content and discussions on issues, a writing tutor, and a resource exploration tool. Furthermore, this study proposes strategies for enhancing pre-service teachers' competencies in adopting generative AI. Through actively engaging with generative AI in their own learning processes, they not only developed their abilities to use generative AI but also reflected on the possibilities and limitations they should possess as future teachers.