Adoption and Impact of ChatGPT in Computer Science Education: A Case Study on a Database Administration Course

TL;DR

This study explores how ChatGPT is adopted in a database administration course, revealing that high-performing students use it more and that it positively correlates with academic success, highlighting potential digital divides.

Contribution

It provides empirical insights into ChatGPT's role in computer science education and its correlation with student performance, emphasizing the need for methodological guidelines.

Findings

ChatGPT usage correlates positively with student grades.

High-performing students use ChatGPT more extensively.

Traditional resources remain widely used alongside ChatGPT.

Abstract

Contribution: The combination of ChatGPT with traditional learning resources is very effective in computer science education. High-performing students are the ones who are using ChatGPT the most. So, a new digital trench could be rising between these students and those with lower degree of fundamentals and worse prompting skills, who may not take advantage of all the ChatGPT possibilities. Background: The irruption of GenAI such as ChatGPT has changed the educational landscape. Therefore, methodological guidelines and more empirical experiences in computer science education are needed to better understand these tools and know how to use them to their fullest potential. Research Questions: This article addresses three questions. The first two explore the degree of use and perceived usefulness of ChatGPT among computer science students to learn database administration, where as the third one explore how the utilization of ChatGPT can impact academic performance. Methodology: This contribution presents an exploratory and correlational study conducted with 37 students who used ChatGPT as a support tool to learn database administration. The student grades and a comprehensive questionnaire were employed as research instruments. Findings: The obtained results indicate that traditional learning resources, such as teacher explanations and student reports, were widely used and correlated positively with student grade. The usage and perceived utility of ChatGPT were moderate, but positive correlations between student grade and ChatGPT usage were found. Indeed, a significantly higher use of this tool was identified among the group of outstanding students.