Industry-aligned AI use in individual software engineering projects
Year: 2026
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: This innovative practice WIP paper aims to teach students how to use AI responsibly while still enabling educators to evaluate essential higher‑order skills, such as critical reasoning, justification, architectural decision‑making, and verification, as part of a final‑year software engineering project. The rapid adoption of generative and assistive AI systems has disrupted traditional expectations of independent project work in higher education, leaving many students uncertain about how to maintain academic integrity while acknowledging the reality of AI‑augmented professional practice. This creates a pedagogical gap: students are either restricted from using AI entirely or use it without developing the cognitive skills needed to critically evaluate, justify, and responsibly integrate AI assistance. The objective is to align project‑development learning outcomes with current industry expectations, where AI‑supported workflows are commonplace and engineers are required to manage, audit, and validate AI‑generated artefacts. To address this need, we present a structured, industry‑aligned framework for integrating AI tools across the software engineering lifecycle, including requirements analysis, design, implementation, and debugging. Central to this framework is the Log-Justify-Evaluate (LJE) protocol, which requires students to document their AI interactions, articulate the rationale behind using AI, and critically assess the accuracy, security, and suitability of AI‑generated outputs. Preliminary qualitative observations suggest that students engage more critically with AI outputs and articulate their reasoning more explicitly, indicating that structured AI integration can enhance both learning and professional readiness while preserving meaningful assessment of individual cognitive skills.
Institution: Queen's University Belfast
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7142574540
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