2025/11/28 by Hana Kataoka, Jialong Li, Kataoka, Hana +3 · 1 voice
Computer Science · #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Human-Computer Interaction (cs.HC) #Software Engineering (cs.SE) #cs.HC #cs.SE
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2511.23157
As LLMs reshape software development, integrating LLM-augmented practices into SE education has become imperative. While existing studies explore LLMs' educational use in introductory programming or isolated SE tasks, their impact in more open-ended Project-Based Learning (PBL) remains unexplored. This paper introduces a two-year longitudinal study comparing a 2024 (using early free LLMs, n=48) and 2025 (using the latest paid LLMs, n=46) cohort. Our findings suggest the latest powerful LLMs' dual role: they act as "equalizers," boosting average performance even for programming-weak students, providing opportunities for more authentic SE practices; yet also as "amplifiers," dramatically widening absolute performance gaps, creating new pedagogical challenges for addressing educational inequities.