Use of AI: Tool or Crutch
14 Dec 2024
I. Introduction
In just a few years of being implemented, AI has already had a huge impact on education. While I know it has been commonly used in college courses over the past couple of years, I was surprised to see that even high school students are now using this powerful tool regularly. It is truly changing the landscape of education and society worldwide. Personally, I did my best to refrain from using AI until last year. While I occasionally used it to clarify concepts I didn’t fully understand, it wasn’t until I started ICS 314 that I found professors not only accepting but encouraging the use of AI tools like ChatGPT. In this essay, I will share my perspective on my personal experiences with AI and discuss the circumstances where I have found it particularly helpful. The AI tool I use most often, especially in this class, is the one that comes to mind for most people: ChatGPT.
II. Personal Experience with AI
Within this part of the essay I will touch upon some of the personal experiences I’ve had with AI technology specifically in ICS 314.
1. Experience WODs
Throughout this course, we went through countless Experience WODs. These WODs were designed to teach new content and apply the concepts we were learning. Most of these WODs included a task along with a video tutorial demonstrating how to complete it. For the most part, I tried to avoid using ChatGPT during these experiences. However, there were times when I found myself stuck or still encountering issues even after following the video solution. At this point, I would copy the problematic code and explain the issue within ChatGPT to see if it could help me resolve the problem. This happened most frequently when we began working with Postgres and Digits; many database-related challenges would arise that I didn’t fully understand. With Postgres, I often found myself troubleshooting for days, working closely with ChatGPT to grasp what was happening behind the scenes and to understand why I was unable to perform certain tasks, such as creating a datatable. I also used ChatGPT extensively when converting websites from Bootstrap 5 to React. I found that it was much more effective and faster to get help through ChatGPT during these transitions.
2. In-Class Practice WODs
As for the in-class practice WODs, I treated them like the real thing so for the most part I had an ego in a sense that I felt it was important for me to figure out the answer without the use of AI. But I do remember as we got more into UI design and frameworks I struggled really hard with using different components and recreating the actual website. For me I remember explicitly having a really hard time matching the Murphy’s website. I was able to get a lot of the components on there but I used ChatGPT to help me to modify the components to better match the alignment to the actual website. An example would be the main image for the middle of the website. I originally inserted it as an image just for that one area but I ChatGPT showed me that I needed to have it as a background for the whole page instead to get the desired result. I also used it to break down as to why my approach for formatting things in a certain way (using flex boxes etc.) would result in the way it looks opposed to what I was going for.
3. In-Class WODs
For the actual in-class WODs I remember in the beginning I was super adamant about making sure that I didn’t use AI. However, as the WODs became more challenging and there was more content to remember, I began using ChatGPT to save my grade. I also found it very useful especially in the website design portion like mentioned previously. I would have it help to realign items correctly and ask it questions about how certain components work to get the desired design of website. It also made converting websites from bootstrap to react a lot easier opposed to starting from scratch.
4. Essays
For the essays I wouldn’t necessarily help me to write it but I used to to clarify certain concepts I didn’t fully understand especially in this most recent essay assignment where we talked about Design Patterns. Aside from researching about design patterns, for my examples I would give ChatGPT exactly what our application was design to do and I would ask it if it fits in with that specific pattern that I thought. There were times that I was wrong about it being in a certain pattern but it gave me one that it matched more to and explained why that might be.
5. Final Project
Within the final project I have been using ChatGPT religiously. I’d be lying if I’d say that I remember all the concepts we went through in this course and that are required to build a website. There were times where I forgot some of the basics and had to consult ChatGPT to remind me how components are called through the actually page.tsx file. I also used ChatGPT too debug my problems. If I couldn’t figure out why something wasn’t coming out the way I wanted to, I would put the code into ChatGPT and give it the error I was getting. Most recently I was having trouble differentiating the landing-page of a signed-in vs non signed-in user. ChatGPT helped me to produce the code that allowed the website to write two different functions within the page.tsx file and call one based on if the user was signed-in or not.
6. Learning a Concept / Tutorial
As I previously mentioned I needed a lot of help setting up my Postgres on my laptop. For some reason it wouldn’t allow my base user to to execute commands like creating a new database. ChatGPT allowed me to give it my problems and walked me through how to get around these problems. One of them being a sudo command to use the original postgres account and starting up a server.
7. Answering a Question in Class or in Discord
I didn’t answer any questions from class nor do I remember answering question on Discord. So I didn’t use AI for this section.
8. Asking or Answering a Smart-Question
I remember running into a problems importing icons when using next.js. I couldn’t figure it out why I couldn’t import icons from react bootstrap. I first asked in the “smart-questions” but had no luck. I finally was able to get a working answer from ChatGPT to import from ‘react-icons/fa’ and ‘react-icons/bs’ instead. When I looked back on “smart-questions” I saw that my colleagues were now running into the same problem I was and was able to help them by giving them the working solution from ChatGPT.
9. Coding Example
At times I did use for coding examples for maybe functions I didn’t know how to use. An example was one of the WODs I wanted to make sure I was using the ternary operation correctly so I asked it to give me an example of how to use it after it was done to make sure I fully understood how it operated.
10. Explaining Code
ChatGPT is really good at breaking down code and I would use it to help me when doing experiences like in Digits. I would give the code in the solution video and ask for the parts I didn’t fully understand.
11. Writing Code
I said previously but I used ChatGPT to help me convert from Bootstrap 5 to React for the websites that we were modelling.
12. Documenting Code
I didn’t use it to document code since I didn’t have that much documentation in general.
13. Quality Assurance
I wouldn’t use it to fix ESLint errors since the ESLint would give you the solution of how to fix it. However, I did use it a lot when I would have issues when completing the Digits assignment I would have issues when I would run “npm run dev” to get it on local host and I would ask ChatGPT what may cause the issue and give them the code I was working on.
14. Other Uses in ICS 314 Not Listed
I didn’t use it in any other way for ICS 314 that wasn’t already listed.
III. Impact on Learning and Understanding
From my experience using AI throughout ICS 314, I’ve found it to be an incredibly powerful tool that helped me grasp the concepts and applications of the course. However, I also noticed that knowing I had this tool at my disposal made me more dependent on it over time. As the course became more demanding and tasks piled up, I began to feel less of a need to memorize certain details or fully understand the material since I could rely on AI to fill in the gaps.
ChatGPT, in particular, was especially helpful for breaking down complex code, explaining how different components worked, and debugging issues. I found it especially useful during the experience WODs, as the video tutorials often weren’t updated or lacked certain details. ChatGPT helped me navigate these challenges, guiding me toward the expected results while also teaching me the underlying principles.
That being said, I believe it’s crucial to strike a balance when using AI. While it’s an excellent tool to enhance learning, relying on it too much can hinder deeper understanding. It’s important to use AI as a supplement to, rather than a substitute for, active learning and problem-solving. In the end, I see AI as a valuable resource to enhance learning, but not as a crutch to avoid fully engaging with the material.
IV. Practical Applications
Outside of ICS 314, I have been utilizing AI more frequently for studying and working on projects. For example, for my second midterm in a separate class, I found an AI tool that could take the contents of a book (or any text you provide) and turn it into a podcast. I input the chapter of the book I was reading, and the AI created a 10-minute podcast with “two” people explaining and discussing the concepts. I found this method much more engaging and it helped me grasp the concepts more effectively. Additionally, the AI generated study guides highlighting the important concepts from the chapter, which helped me focus on what to be mindful of during my studies. AI has also been useful in other projects where I needed to learn about topics I wasn’t familiar with. For instance, in a project class, we were tasked with creating an XBee configuration script, but we had no knowledge of how XBees work or how to use XCTU (the application used to configure XBees). ChatGPT helped us understand the basics of how XBees function and connect to one another, and it provided guidance on what needed to be set and how to do so correctly. As we wrote the code to configure things like the destination high, destination low, baud rate, etc., ChatGPT also assisted with debugging and explained why certain configurations weren’t working as expected.
V. Challenges and Opportunities
I think the biggest challenge with AI that I faced is holding myself accountable to not solely rely on it for all the answers. I believe that a big part of learning is definitely failing. When using such a powerful tool, it can be so easy to get carried away and use it as a crutch to complete the work. But if you can find the balance of using it responsibly, it becomes a great asset to anyone who wants to learn more and sharpen their skills, not just for software engineering. I really admire the professors who are encouraging the use of AI. Clearly, it is something that has the potential to revolutionize any industry and even the world. As the next generation, if we can learn to wield its power and use it ethically, positively, and responsibly, it can certainly be a powerful tool for us to push the envelope in everything we do.
VI. Comparative Analysis
For me personally, I think it’s important to have both traditional teaching methods as well as AI-enhanced approaches, especially in software engineering education. When I took my object-oriented programming class, I had no idea what ChatGPT or AI was. It was strictly professor lectures, classmates, and Stack Overflow. I found this to be really good for learning the basics of programming since it forces you to go through every step and really experience trial and error in order to get the code right. However, AI has helped me in ways similar to a personal tutor. It helps me bounce ideas off of, assists with debugging, and aids in learning new concepts. I definitely think that when professors teach in person, I learn a lot better compared to just watching videos. For me, it helps me to be more accountable for my learning. But I really like the fact that in this class, we can use AI to help us complete what we need to. I think if classes can find a way to really guide students on how to use AI and encourage them to use it as a tool for learning, while still teaching the concepts in class, it will help students get the best of both worlds and set them up for success.
VII. Future Considerations
Going off of the last point, I think that AI in software engineering education could definitely be a good thing if used correctly. As I reflect back on this past semester and the use of AI, I think it will definitely be used more and more as time progresses. I think that it is an amazing tool that can help students in a way like a personal tutor, help to efficiently complete tasks, and help to teach students as well. Some challenges that may be encountered with AI are finding the balance of using it as a tool rather than a crutch. I think if it were to be used in classrooms, teachers should find a way to enforce it so students are not solely relying on it and don’t end up learning less as a result.
VIII. Conclusion
Throughout my experiences with AI, I definitely see its power as a useful tool not just for students but for society as a whole. Throughout this course, it helped me to do things like debug, understand, write, and teach me more about programming. It completely changes how people can learn new skills and gain more knowledge. It is definitely a powerful tool. However, just like the old saying goes, with more power comes more responsibility. It is imperative that people learn how to use it as a tool rather than a crutch in learning and in work. It will come down to how the user chooses to use it. Will AI be a tool for you to shape your future? Or will it be a crutch to help you cut corners and get by? You decide.