ERIC Number: EJ1474809
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Jun
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0266-4909
EISSN: EISSN-1365-2729
Available Date: 2025-04-21
From Imitation Games to Robot-Teachers: A Review and Discussion of the Role of LLMs in Computing Education
Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, v41 n3 e70043 2025
Background: The recent advent of powerful, exam-passing large language models (LLMs) in public awareness has led to concerns over students cheating, but has also given rise to calls for including or even focusing education on LLMs. There is a perceived urgency to react immediately, as well as claims that AI-based reforms of education will lead to a broadening of accessibility to high-quality education. Objectives: We review and discuss three major themes that appear in the research literature on LLMs and computing education, namely that (i) LLMs exhibit human-like performance and can pass exams, (ii) LLMs are freely available and intuitive to use, and (iii) students use LLMs to cheat or accept the results without critical evaluation. Moreover, we highlight the importance of a more human-centric view on the topic. Methods: The discussion is based on a review of the (research) literature in the fields related to computing education, picks up claims and statements from the literature, and compares them with research findings from the area. By making some of the rather tacit premises more explicit and putting them into context, we aim to base the discourse about AI in education on more solid grounds. Results and Conclusion: We find that claims such as the broadening of accessibility to high-quality education or calls for urgent educational reforms are not supported by evidence. Furthermore, we argue that there is a central human element in education that cannot be automated or replaced by AI tools.
Descriptors: Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Processing, Technology Uses in Education, Usability, Cheating, Computer Science Education, Discourse Analysis, Educational Change, Automation, Criticism, Man Machine Systems, Values
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany