Programming Educators’ Perspectiveson Generative AI in Object-Oriented Education : Implications for Learning, Assessment, and Competence Development

Sammanfattning

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) has become a common tool in programming education and is changing how students learn, solve programming tasks, and complete assignments. This study explores how GenAI influences programming education, with a focus on Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) courses in Swedish higher education.The study aims to examine teachers’ perspectives on AI-assisted programming, identify changes in programming assignments and assessment, and compare human grading with AI-generated grading. An exploratory qualitative multi-method approach was used. The study combines semi-structured interviews with programming educators from two Swedish universities, a document analysis of programming assignments from different course iterations, and a grading comparison between teachers and an AI model. The collected data were analyzed using thematic analysis and compared across the different data sources. The findings indicate that teachers view GenAI as both a useful educational support tool and a challenge for traditional assessment practices. The assignment analysis suggests an increased focus on reflection, reasoning, and process-oriented assessment rather than only evaluating submitted code. The grading comparison shows that AI and human teachers often reach similar overall assessments, while differences mainly appear in the interpretation of quality, reasoning, and feedback. The interviews further highlight concerns about academic integrity, student learning strategies, and the need for transparent AI use in programming education. Within the scope of this exploratory study, the results suggest that programming education is gradually adapting to AI-assisted learning environments by placing greater emphasis on students’ understanding, communication, and ability to explain their own solutions rather than only producing functional code. The study contributes empirical insights into how programming educators experience the growing role of GenAI and discusses implications for future teaching and assessment practices.