The moderating effect of career on the Development of Critical Thinking with the Chatbot in university students

Abstract

The main objective of the research was to determine the moderating effect of the professional career on developing critical thinking with the chatbot in university students. A professional career in health sciences, such as human medicine, and another career in social sciences, such as advertising and multimedia, were chosen for the study. The proposed structural model had predictor variables such as effective chatbot interaction, chatbot problem resolution capability, autonomy fostered by chatbot use, chatbot response reliability and accuracy, and, as an endogenous variable, the development of critical thinking. The research was carried out in Arequipa, Peru. A quantitative approach with a non-experimental cross-sectional design was used, and a multivariate model was used to model structured equations based on variances. In conclusion, the structural model reveals that problem-solving ability and reliability in chatbot responses are crucial for developing critical thinking in college students, while perceived autonomy and quality of direct interaction do not play a significant role. Furthermore, the consistency of these effects across different career paths suggests that chatbots can be an effective educational tool without the need to tailor their features to specific fields of study such as professional careers. This highlights the utility of chatbots as versatile pedagogical tools in the higher education environment.