Lecturers’ Perceptions of Generative Artificial Intelligence and Student Creativity in Higher Education: Implications for Policy Development

Abstract

This study examines lecturers’ perceptions of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated content and its impact on students' human creativity in Jamaican higher education. Specifically, it investigates whether generative AI serves as a social determinant of creativity and whether its influence should be subject to regulation at the tertiary level. Employing a cross-sectional descriptive research design, data were collected from 24 lecturers across diverse disciplines, most of whom possessed more than a decade of teaching experience and were familiar with generative AI tools such as ChatGPT. Findings reveal ambivalent perceptions. While 46% of respondents agreed that AI enhances student creativity, 83% expressed concern that it enables students to bypass essential cognitive and creative processes. Skills most perceived to be at risk included writing voice (96%), originality (92%), and critical thinking (83%). Lecturers recognised benefits such as improved grammar, clarity, and idea generation, yet also highlighted plagiarism, superficial understanding, and compromised assessment validity as significant challenges. Notably, 67% of participants reported the absence of institutional policies on AI, and 83% advocated for the redesign of assessments to reflect the evolving technological landscape. Lecturers supported a dual response-establishing institutional AI policies and implementing classroom-level strategies such as reflection-based tasks and iterative assessment. The findings underscore the urgency of developing a policy framework that ensures ethical, equitable, and pedagogically sound integration of AI in Jamaican higher education. This study contributes to ongoing global debates by highlighting creativity as a socially embedded construct requiring regulatory consideration in the digital age.