Design Implications for Student and Educator Needs in AI-Supported Programming Learning Tools

TL;DR

This paper explores how AI coding assistants can be designed to meet both student and educator needs in programming education, emphasizing scaffolding, control, and timely support based on survey insights.

Contribution

It provides evidence-based design recommendations for AI coding tools that balance student agency and educator oversight, grounded in surveys of both groups.

Findings

Educators prefer indirect scaffolding to preserve reasoning.

Students favor direct, actionable help for clarity.

Design should balance agency with instructional constraints.

Abstract

AI-powered coding assistants can support students in programming courses by providing on-demand explanations and debugging help. However, existing research often focuses on individual tools, leaving a gap in evidence-based design recommendations that reflect both educator and student perspectives in education settings. To ground the design of learning-oriented AI coding assistants for both sides' needs, we conducted parallel surveys of educators (N=50) and students (N=90) to compare preferences about (i) how students should request help, (ii) how AI should respond, and (iii) who should control. Our results show that educators generally favored indirect scaffolding that preserves students' reasoning, whereas students were more likely to prefer direct, actionable help. Educators further highlighted the need for course-aligned constraints and instructor-facing oversight, while students emphasized timely support and clarity when stuck. Based on these findings, we discuss the interaction-focused design space and derive design implications for learning-oriented AI coding assistants, highlighting scaffolding and control mechanisms that balance students' agency with instructional constraints.