Incorporating student perspectives towards Generative AI

Incorporating student perspectives towards Generative AI into the redesign of programming courses in the School of Physics and Astronomy.

School: Physics & Astronomy

Team: Dr Ross Galloway Joe Marsh Rossney Dr Britton Smith and Dr Joseph Zuntz

Abstract

The project seeks to understand how the experience of undergraduate students taking programming courses has changed, and is changing, due to the sudden availability of 'Generative Artificial Intelligence' (GenAI) systems such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and GitHub's CoPilot. The insights will feed into the development of a set of guidelines and recommendations aimed at Course Organisers. Anticipating a wider relevance than the courses we are directly involved with, we will take steps to disseminate the findings of our study among colleagues in the SoPA, the broader University community, and further afield. The key results will be submitted for publication in a Focused Collection of the peer-reviewed journal Physical Review Physics Education Research. Finally, this study will serve as a baseline and potentially a blueprint for follow-up work as the technological landscape evolves.