Date of Award

8-2025

Access Control

Open Access

Degree Name

Master of Music Education (MME)

Department

Music

Advisor

Dr. Kerry Renzoni

First Reader

Dr. Kerry Renzoni

Second Reader

Dr. Victoria Furby

Third Reader

N/A

Abstract

Recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly generative AI chatbots like the Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (ChatGPT), have impacted education, yet their specific implications for music education remain underexplored. This study explores general music educators’ perceptions of information provided by ChatGPT, focusing on their ability to distinguish AI-generated content, its perceived accuracy, and the perceived influence of professional experience. A qualitative multiple case methodology including six general music educators located in the state of New York was utilized. Participants were purposively sampled to ensure maximum variation in age, gender, service years, and teaching levels. During interviews, they were asked to evaluate and compare two ChatGPT-generated answers and one human-generated answer from the New York State Teacher Certification Examinations (NYSTCE) on a music-related question, without prior knowledge of the source. Thematic analysis of the interview transcripts revealed an overall positive sentiment towards both AI and human-generated outputs. However, the human-generated answers were consistently described more favorably, primarily due to their inclusion of a “citation”, bolstering the perceived accuracy and trustworthiness by participants. Participants largely distinguished AI outputs by stylistic patterns such as “run-on” sentences, lack of citation, and perceived “vagueness.” More experienced educators (5+ service years) often relied on their extensive personal knowledge to assess authenticity, while newer educators (1-4 service years) placed greater emphasis on the presence of cited sources for determining accuracy. Despite concerns about AI fabricated data and potential bias, ChatGPT was valued as a time saver and reliable tool for daily tasks, information gathering as a good starting point, for idea creation and for lesson planning. The findings indicate that while ChatGPT offers practical utility as an informational resource for music educators, its perceived accuracy and trustworthiness may be heavily influenced by different factors. These factors being the presence, or lack thereof, of verifiable sources for newer educators or the use of personal knowledge and experience by more seasoned educators. This highlights a critical area for future AI development in specialized fields such as general music education.

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