Dianne Stratton-Maher, Jennifer Kelly
AIM: To explore how first-year nursing students engaged with ChatGPT during an assessment task, and to understand the experiences, challenges, and perceptions they reported regarding its use in academic work. BACKGROUND: As artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT reshape higher education, new opportunities and ethical tensions emerge in how students learn. Rather than simply adopting AI as a shortcut, there is an urgent need to guide students toward learning with AI critically, ethically, and creatively within assessment practices. Despite the growing use of AI, limited research has examined how structured integration into undergraduate education influences learning outcomes, digital literacy, and academic integrity. DESIGN: A qualitative descriptive study investigated the ethical and pedagogical implications of integrating ChatGPT into a first-year undergraduate nursing assessment. METHOD: Focus groups were conducted with 48 first-year nursing students following their use of ChatGPT in an assessment task. Semi-structured questions explored students' experiences, challenges, and perceptions of ChatGPT's role in their academic development. Data were analysed using Braun and Clarke's reflexive thematic analysis, supported by the AI tool CoPilot for coding rigour. RESULTS: The analysis identified six themes: initial confusion, developing skills, evaluating reliability, negotiating academic integrity, recognising future benefits, and valuing support. Students initially experienced uncertainty, particularly around ethical use and institutional messaging. Many developed critical engagement skills, using ChatGPT to improve writing clarity, language proficiency, and idea generation. However, tensions remained between the benefits of AI support and concerns about dependency, misinformation, and digital inequities. CONCLUSIONS: Structured, ethical engagement with ChatGPT can foster critical literacy, digital fluency, and deeper learning outcomes in undergraduate education. To fully realise AI's potential, institutions must develop coherent policies, embed AI literacy into curriculum design, and provide targeted support for educators and students. Learning with AI, rather than passively relying on it, is essential for preparing graduates to thrive in an AI-integrated future.