Early Adoption of Generative Artificial Intelligence in Computing Education: Emergent Student Use Cases and Perspectives in 2023

TL;DR

This study surveys computer science students' initial use, perceptions, and concerns regarding emerging Generative AI tools in 2023, providing early insights into their impact on computing education before policy responses.

Contribution

It offers the first baseline assessment of computing students' GenAI adoption, needs, and perspectives, informing future educational policies and curriculum development.

Findings

Students are actively experimenting with GenAI tools.

Students express concerns about academic integrity and skill development.

GenAI influences pedagogical approaches and curriculum considerations.

Abstract

Because of the rapid development and increasing public availability of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) models and tools, educational institutions and educators must immediately reckon with the impact of students using GenAI. There is limited prior research on computing students' use and perceptions of GenAI. In anticipation of future advances and evolutions of GenAI, we capture a snapshot of student attitudes towards and uses of yet emerging GenAI, in a period of time before university policies had reacted to these technologies. We surveyed all computer science majors in a small engineering-focused R1 university in order to: (1) capture a baseline assessment of how GenAI has been immediately adopted by aspiring computer scientists; (2) describe computing students' GenAI-related needs and concerns for their education and careers; and (3) discuss GenAI influences on CS pedagogy, curriculum, culture, and policy. We present an exploratory qualitative analysis of this data and discuss the impact of our findings on the emerging conversation around GenAI and education.