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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2026
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.05506 |
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| _version_ | 1866918324291502080 |
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| author | Lin, Xinrui Huang, Heyan Shi, Shumin Vines, John |
| author_facet | Lin, Xinrui Huang, Heyan Shi, Shumin Vines, John |
| contents | Prior research has raised concerns about students' over-reliance on large language models (LLMs) in higher education. This paper examines how Computer Science students and instructors engage with LLMs across five scenarios: "Writing", "Quiz", "Programming", "Project-based learning", and "Information retrieval". Through user studies with 16 students and 6 instructors, we identify 7 key intents, including increasingly complex student practices. Findings reveal varying levels of conflict between student practices and instructor norms, ranging from clear conflict in "Writing-generation" and "(Programming) quiz-solving", through partial conflict in "Programming project-implementation" and "Project-based learning", to broad agreement in "Writing-revision & ideation", "(Programming) quiz-correction" and "Info-query & summary". We document instructors are shifting from prohibiting to recognizing students' use of LLMs for high-quality work, integrating usage records into assessment grading. Finally, we propose LLM design guidelines: deploying default guardrails with game-like and empathetic interaction to prevent students from "deserting" LLMs, especially for "Writing-generation", while utilizing comprehension checks in low-conflict intents to promote learning. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_05506 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Relying on LLMs: Student Practices and Instructor Norms are Changing in Computer Science Education Lin, Xinrui Huang, Heyan Shi, Shumin Vines, John Human-Computer Interaction Prior research has raised concerns about students' over-reliance on large language models (LLMs) in higher education. This paper examines how Computer Science students and instructors engage with LLMs across five scenarios: "Writing", "Quiz", "Programming", "Project-based learning", and "Information retrieval". Through user studies with 16 students and 6 instructors, we identify 7 key intents, including increasingly complex student practices. Findings reveal varying levels of conflict between student practices and instructor norms, ranging from clear conflict in "Writing-generation" and "(Programming) quiz-solving", through partial conflict in "Programming project-implementation" and "Project-based learning", to broad agreement in "Writing-revision & ideation", "(Programming) quiz-correction" and "Info-query & summary". We document instructors are shifting from prohibiting to recognizing students' use of LLMs for high-quality work, integrating usage records into assessment grading. Finally, we propose LLM design guidelines: deploying default guardrails with game-like and empathetic interaction to prevent students from "deserting" LLMs, especially for "Writing-generation", while utilizing comprehension checks in low-conflict intents to promote learning. |
| title | Relying on LLMs: Student Practices and Instructor Norms are Changing in Computer Science Education |
| topic | Human-Computer Interaction |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.05506 |