DROPS

Document

Short Paper

DOI: 10.4230/OASIcs.ICPEC.2026.8

Learning, Not Just Coding: Scaffolded AI Assistance for Programming Education (Short Paper)

Authors: Necmi Kaan Sapoglu and Abdallah Mohamed

Published in: OASIcs, Volume 145, 7th International Computer Programming Education Conference (ICPEC 2026)

Abstract

AI coding assistants such as GitHub Copilot and ChatGPT are highly effective at generating and correcting code, but their optimization for productivity raises challenges in educational contexts, where immediate solutions can bypass the reasoning processes necessary for learning. This paper presents VibeLearner, a Visual Studio Code extension that constrains AI assistance through a Role-Task-Requirements-Instructions (RTRI) prompting framework. The system supports three interaction modes, Socratic, Hinted, and Show-and-Tell, that regulate how assistance is delivered to promote guided reasoning, reflection, and incremental problem solving. A synthetic, scenario-based comparison with an unconstrained AI assistant illustrates how interaction-level constraints influence the structure and pedagogical character of responses. This work contributes a design framework for embedding scaffolded AI behavior into development environments and highlights the role of interaction design in aligning AI assistance with learning-oriented objectives.

Cite as

Necmi Kaan Sapoglu and Abdallah Mohamed. Learning, Not Just Coding: Scaffolded AI Assistance for Programming Education (Short Paper). In 7th International Computer Programming Education Conference (ICPEC 2026). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 145, pp. 8:1-8:8, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

Copy BibTex To Clipboard

@InProceedings{sapoglu_et_al:OASIcs.ICPEC.2026.8,
  author =	{Sapoglu, Necmi Kaan and Mohamed, Abdallah},
  title =	{{Learning, Not Just Coding: Scaffolded AI Assistance for Programming Education}},
  booktitle =	{7th International Computer Programming Education Conference (ICPEC 2026)},
  pages =	{8:1--8:8},
  series =	{Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-443-7},
  ISSN =	{2190-6807},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{145},
  editor =	{Portela, Filipe and Matos, Lu{\'\i}s and Guimar\~{a}es, Tiago},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/OASIcs.ICPEC.2026.8},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-267454},
  doi =		{10.4230/OASIcs.ICPEC.2026.8},
  annote =	{Keywords: computing education, AI-assisted programming, pedagogical scaffolding, intelligent tutoring systems, programming misconceptions, IDE-based learning tools}
}

Search Results

Documents authored by Sapoglu, Necmi Kaan

Learning, Not Just Coding: Scaffolded AI Assistance for Programming Education (Short Paper)

Abstract

Cite as

Thanks for your feedback!

Could not send message