The role of artificial intelligence (AI) in assisting students with writing Zoom meeting minutes: a qualitative study

This study explores students’ perceptions of using artificial intelligence (AI) to take meeting minutes, specifically with the aid of an AI transcription tool integrated into Zoom. The researcher especially sought to identify the benefits and challenges of using the tool from the student’s perspective. In a qualitative research design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 students to gather their perceptions of using Zoom’s AI transcription feature, thereby generating rich data. Samples were analysed from 30 sets of students’ meeting minutes, comparing the accuracy and coverage of the minutes before and after using an AI transcript. The tool was found to help reduce time and effort in note-taking, while improving student engagement in discussion. The resulting transcripts were accurate and seen by the students as helpful and efficient, reducing their cognitive load. Conversely, some meeting summaries were inaccurate and the students who drafted them perceived the tool as neither efficient nor helpful. Certain students were also afraid that using it could negatively affect their own note-taking and critical thinking skills. The originality of this study lies in its investigation of students’ perceptions regarding the use of an AI transcription tool in Zoom to draft meeting minutes, which has not hitherto been studied.