Using Generative AI in Software Design Education: An Experience Report

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jackson, Victoria, Liu, Susannah, van der Hoek, Andre
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866915361248509952
author Jackson, Victoria
Liu, Susannah
van der Hoek, Andre
author_facet Jackson, Victoria
Liu, Susannah
van der Hoek, Andre
contents With the rapid adoption of Generative AI (GenAI) tools, software engineering educators have grappled with how best to incorporate them into the classroom. While some research discusses the use of GenAI in the context of learning to code, there is little research that explores the use of GenAI in the classroom for other areas of software development. This paper provides an experience report on introducing GenAI into an undergraduate software design class. Students were required to use GenAI (in the form of ChatGPT) to help complete a team-based assignment. The data collected consisted of the ChatGPT conversation logs and students' reflections on using ChatGPT for the assignment. Subsequently, qualitative analysis was undertaken on the data. Students identified numerous ways ChatGPT helped them in their design process while recognizing the need to critique the response before incorporating it into their design. At the same time, we identified several key lessons for educators in how to deploy GenAI in a software design class effectively. Based on our experience, we believe students can benefit from using GenAI in software design education as it helps them design and learn about the strengths and weaknesses of GenAI.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_21703
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Using Generative AI in Software Design Education: An Experience Report
Jackson, Victoria
Liu, Susannah
van der Hoek, Andre
Software Engineering
With the rapid adoption of Generative AI (GenAI) tools, software engineering educators have grappled with how best to incorporate them into the classroom. While some research discusses the use of GenAI in the context of learning to code, there is little research that explores the use of GenAI in the classroom for other areas of software development. This paper provides an experience report on introducing GenAI into an undergraduate software design class. Students were required to use GenAI (in the form of ChatGPT) to help complete a team-based assignment. The data collected consisted of the ChatGPT conversation logs and students' reflections on using ChatGPT for the assignment. Subsequently, qualitative analysis was undertaken on the data. Students identified numerous ways ChatGPT helped them in their design process while recognizing the need to critique the response before incorporating it into their design. At the same time, we identified several key lessons for educators in how to deploy GenAI in a software design class effectively. Based on our experience, we believe students can benefit from using GenAI in software design education as it helps them design and learn about the strengths and weaknesses of GenAI.
title Using Generative AI in Software Design Education: An Experience Report
topic Software Engineering
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.21703