Osadcha, K., da Silva, B., Symonenko, S., & Osadcha, V. (Accepted/In press). Students' use of artificial intelligence tools while learning programming: a pilot study. In EDULEARN25 Proceedings (pp. 1-11)

@inproceedings{dcc60dc855eb4795a2a37220d5ac39c8,
title = "Students' use of artificial intelligence tools while learning programming: a pilot study",
abstract = "The proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) in today{\textquoteright}s digital world has presented new challenges for higher education, particularly in the teaching of programming to university students. Based on an analysis of academic articles and lecturers{\textquoteright} experience, the article identified that best practices for applying AI in programming teaching are based on the pedagogical integration of AI into learning, the development of critical thinking, a rethinking of approaches to assessing students{\textquoteright} academic achievements, personalization, support for weaker students, combining AI with alternative learning strategies, and ethical responsibility. Based on a survey of students studying programming at universities in Ukraine, Poland and Indonesia. It was found that most respondents use AI tools – primarily general-purpose AI chatbots (ChatGPT, MS Copilot) and online code assistants (GitHub Copilot, Codeium) – to generate code snippets, debug errors and clarify programming concepts. An important part of the survey concerns how students check the quality of code generated by AI and what precautions they take to avoid copying incorrect solutions. The survey also examines students{\textquoteright} awareness of university policies governing the use of AI. Students demonstrate limited awareness of institutional AI policies and express a need for clearer guidelines. Respondents{\textquoteright} ethical views are explored separately: from examples of ethical AI use to situations, they consider unethical. Students also shared their own views on how the use of AI should be regulated in programming courses. Equally important to the study is the section of the survey concerning students{\textquoteright} subjective feelings. We explored how they feel when using AI, whether it affects their confidence or programming skills, and what benefits they see in the process. Students reported an increase in coding speed and productivity. Many acknowledge risks such as over-reliance on AI; however, around 41\% of students note an improvement in their ability to work independently thanks to AI, whilst approximately 36\% believe it has decreased. In conclusion, based on the literature review and survey, the study proposes an update to university policies, including a clear definition of acceptable use of AI in coding, requirements for documenting AI use, the introduction of AI literacy training into programming courses, development of AI use policies for each programming and software development course, and assessments that take into account student work supported by AI and independent work. The authors provide recommendations for the development of responsible AI use policies in engineering and computer science departments. ",
author = "Kateryna Osadcha and \{da Silva\}, Bruno and Svitlana Symonenko and Viktoria Osadcha",
year = "2026",
language = "English",
pages = "1--11",
booktitle = "EDULEARN25 Proceedings",
}