The use of Generative AI in software development is gaining traction. But what are the potentials and implications on software development education? We gathered insights on the use of Generative AI from professional software developers and make some pedagogical recommendations.

Generative AI (GAI) is impacting teaching and learning directly or indirectly across a range of subjects and disciplines. As educators, we need to understand the potential and limitations of AI in HCI education and ensure our graduating HCI students are aware of the potential and limitations of AI in HCI. In this paper, we report on the main pedagogical insights gained from the inclusion of generative AI into a 10-week undergraduate module. We designed the module to encourage student experimentation with GAI models as part of the design brief requirement and planned practical sessions and discussions. Our insights are based on replies to a survey sent out to the students after completing the module. Our key findings, for HCI educators, report on the use of AI as a persona for developing project ideas and creating resources for design, and AI as a mirror for reflecting students’ understanding of key concepts and ideas and highlighting knowledge gaps. We also discuss potential pitfalls that should be considered and the need to assess students’ literacies and assumptions of GAIs as pedagogical tools. Finally, we put forward the case for educators to take the opportunities GAI presents as an educational tool and be experimental, creative, and courageous in their practice. We end with a discussion of our findings in relation to the TPACK framework in HCI.

Social media is seen as a powerful driver of change for language teaching and learning. Many studies have looked at the use and adoption rates of social media in language education, but studies that take a more fine-grained understanding of the differences between individual features of social media and how they are perceived by learners and teachers are rare. We present an analysis of the results of two workshops in a UK university that illustrate disparities between how individual features of social media are used generally, and how they are used for educational purposes between learners and teachers of languages. To understand the underlying perceptions of and attitudes towards features of social media we performed an inductive thematic analysis of discussion data generated at the workshops. From this we surface three themes: social media as distinct language type; navigating appropriateness; and prioritizing authentic communication flow. From these themes, we offer four design recommendations for practitioners and researchers who wish to incorporate social media in language teaching. These recommendations are: pay attention to specific features of social media and model authentic use; create learner-led and learner-owned spaces; create structured pathways to authentic social media use; and incorporate social media in assessment.

We introduce a novel data collection technique, Sketching Dialogue, which incorporates sketching as an integral part of the semi-structured interview process. This approach was evaluated and validated using two case studies involving 21 participants. Through the first case study, we demonstrate the value of Sketching Dialogue as an additional supportive artefact for interactive discussion in the interview setting. The second case study involved a process of other researchers applying the method within six different studies on a range of topics. We outline how Sketching Dialogue provided a more effective form of engagement with participants, especially regarding (personally) sensitive topics or where empathetic engagement was required. Through this work, we illustrate how sketching can enhance the quality of traditional research interviews for studies in human–computer interaction, in part due to its particularly flexible and accessible nature. Based on our experience, we also reflect upon the steps and practices needed to introduce a new qualitative research method to human–computer interaction researchers and designers.

The underrepresentation of women in the STEM workforce is a global issue. In Saudi Arabia, women constitute 48% of undergraduates in STEM, but their participation in STEM careers remains particularly low. We explored the current state of e-mentoring, and the potential for co-designing to enhance e-mentoring experiences for youth in the Saudi context. We report on how we sought to understand the opportunities, barriers and requirements of e-mentoring for young women in Saudi Arabia through (1) the application of a traditional programme of STEM e-mentoring, (2) workshops on the redesign of e-mentoring, and (3) a co-design activity as the first phase of an alternative e-mentoring process. The study demonstrated that the traits of the participants’ generation had a major effect on the findings; more so than cultural norms. This means that the findings have wider implications than just within the Saudi context. We identify a number of recommendations for designing e-mentoring programmes for young women and teenagers, including un-platforming traditional approaches to e-mentoring and the inclusion of co-design activities as a first step in the e-mentoring process.