You're (Not) My Type -- Can LLMs Generate Feedback of Specific Types for Introductory Programming Tasks?

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Lohr, Dominic, Keuning, Hieke, Kiesler, Natalie
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Lohr, Dominic
Keuning, Hieke
Kiesler, Natalie
author_facet Lohr, Dominic
Keuning, Hieke
Kiesler, Natalie
contents Background: Feedback as one of the most influential factors for learning has been subject to a great body of research. It plays a key role in the development of educational technology systems and is traditionally rooted in deterministic feedback defined by experts and their experience. However, with the rise of generative AI and especially Large Language Models (LLMs), we expect feedback as part of learning systems to transform, especially for the context of programming. In the past, it was challenging to automate feedback for learners of programming. LLMs may create new possibilities to provide richer, and more individual feedback than ever before. Objectives: This paper aims to generate specific types of feedback for introductory programming tasks using LLMs. We revisit existing feedback taxonomies to capture the specifics of the generated feedback, such as randomness, uncertainty, and degrees of variation. Methods: We iteratively designed prompts for the generation of specific feedback types (as part of existing feedback taxonomies) in response to authentic student programs. We then evaluated the generated output and determined to what extent it reflected certain feedback types. Results and Conclusion: The present work provides a better understanding of different feedback dimensions and characteristics. The results have implications for future feedback research with regard to, for example, feedback effects and learners' informational needs. It further provides a basis for the development of new tools and learning systems for novice programmers including feedback generated by AI.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_03516
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle You're (Not) My Type -- Can LLMs Generate Feedback of Specific Types for Introductory Programming Tasks?
Lohr, Dominic
Keuning, Hieke
Kiesler, Natalie
Artificial Intelligence
Background: Feedback as one of the most influential factors for learning has been subject to a great body of research. It plays a key role in the development of educational technology systems and is traditionally rooted in deterministic feedback defined by experts and their experience. However, with the rise of generative AI and especially Large Language Models (LLMs), we expect feedback as part of learning systems to transform, especially for the context of programming. In the past, it was challenging to automate feedback for learners of programming. LLMs may create new possibilities to provide richer, and more individual feedback than ever before. Objectives: This paper aims to generate specific types of feedback for introductory programming tasks using LLMs. We revisit existing feedback taxonomies to capture the specifics of the generated feedback, such as randomness, uncertainty, and degrees of variation. Methods: We iteratively designed prompts for the generation of specific feedback types (as part of existing feedback taxonomies) in response to authentic student programs. We then evaluated the generated output and determined to what extent it reflected certain feedback types. Results and Conclusion: The present work provides a better understanding of different feedback dimensions and characteristics. The results have implications for future feedback research with regard to, for example, feedback effects and learners' informational needs. It further provides a basis for the development of new tools and learning systems for novice programmers including feedback generated by AI.
title You're (Not) My Type -- Can LLMs Generate Feedback of Specific Types for Introductory Programming Tasks?
topic Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.03516