  ChatGPT, launched in November 2022, has gained widespread attention from
students and educators globally, with an online report by Hu (2023) stating it
as the fastest-growing consumer application in history. While discussions on
the use of ChatGPT in higher education are abundant, empirical studies on its
impact on collaborative interdisciplinary learning are rare. To investigate its
potential, we conducted a quasi-experimental study with 130 undergraduate
students (STEM and non-STEM) learning digital literacy with or without ChatGPT
over two weeks. Weekly surveys were conducted on collaborative
interdisciplinary problem-solving, physical and cognitive engagement, and
individual reflections on ChatGPT use. Analysis of survey responses showed
significant main effects of topics on collaborative interdisciplinary
problem-solving and physical and cognitive engagement, a marginal interaction
effect between disciplinary backgrounds and ChatGPT conditions for cognitive
engagement, and a significant interaction effect for physical engagement.
Sentiment analysis of student reflections suggested no significant difference
between STEM and non-STEM students' opinions towards ChatGPT. Qualitative
analysis of reflections generated eight positive themes, including efficiency,
addressing knowledge gaps, and generating human-like responses, and eight
negative themes, including generic responses, lack of innovation, and
counterproductive to self-discipline and thinking. Our findings suggest that
ChatGPT use needs to be optimized by considering the topics being taught and
the disciplinary backgrounds of students rather than applying it uniformly.
These findings have implications for both pedagogical research and practices.
