Danish Gymnasium Students' Experiences with ChatGPT: Learning, Reflection, and Human Values in the Age of Generative AI
Authors
Bech, Line ; Hansen, Emil Thunestvedt
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2025
Abstract
This techno-anthropological thesis examines how Danish upper-secondary students experience and use ChatGPT as a mediating technology in learning—that is, a technology that helps shape how they work, understand, and relate to learning. The study is based on anthropological fieldwork in two classes and a literature review. We present a combined framework, the Ellipse of Technomediated Experience, which brings together three perspectives: Rosa’s theory of resonance (meaningful connection and engagement), Gadamer’s fusion of horizons (meeting and merging perspectives in understanding), and postphenomenology’s technological mediation (how technology shapes experience). Our analysis shows that ChatGPT is not a neutral tool but a co-creator of the learning environment, influencing how students see themselves, their learning processes, and one another. Students often turn to ChatGPT due to time pressure and cognitive overload, which can lead to dependence that weakens metacognitive awareness, critical thinking, and the fusion of horizons. Values such as identity, autonomy, accountability, ownership, trust, and universal usability become central as students navigate blurred boundaries between their own voice and AI-generated content. While ChatGPT can support self-regulated learning, uncritical use may distance students from their own learning process. To address these challenges, we introduce discussion cards as a dialogue tool to support classroom conversations about generative AI and to cultivate a posthuman learning environment in which humans and technologies act together.
Denne techno-antropologiske afhandling undersøger, hvordan danske gymnasieelever oplever og bruger ChatGPT som en teknologi, der medierer deres læring – altså en teknologi, der er med til at forme, hvordan de arbejder, forstår og forholder sig til at lære. Undersøgelsen bygger på antropologisk feltarbejde i to gymnasieklasser og en litteraturgennemgang. Vi præsenterer en sammensat model, The Ellipse of Technomediated Experience, som forener tre perspektiver: Rosas resonansteori (meningsfuld kontakt og engagement), Gadamers horisontsammensmeltning (mødet mellem perspektiver i forståelse) og postfænomenologiens teknologiske mediering (hvordan teknologi former erfaring). Analysen viser, at ChatGPT ikke er et neutralt værktøj, men medskaber af læringsmiljøet og påvirker, hvordan elever ser sig selv, deres læringsprocesser og hinanden. Eleverne bruger ofte ChatGPT på grund af tidspres og kognitiv overbelastning, hvilket kan føre til afhængighed, der svækker metakognitiv opmærksomhed, kritisk tænkning og evnen til at sammenføre perspektiver. Værdier som identitet, autonomi, ansvarlighed, ejerskab, tillid og universel anvendelighed træder frem, fordi eleverne navigerer i uklare grænser mellem deres egen stemme og AI-genereret indhold. Selvom ChatGPT kan støtte selvreguleret læring, kan ukritisk brug fremmedgøre elever fra deres egen læringsproces. For at imødegå disse udfordringer introducerer vi dialogkort som et redskab til klassesamtaler om generativ AI, der kan understøtte et posthumant læringsmiljø, hvor mennesker og teknologi optræder som medaktører.
[This apstract has been rewritten with the help of AI based on the project's original abstract]
Keywords