From Prompts to Prototypes: Exploring ChatGPT in Collaborative Software Prototyping Education
Abstract
Generative AI (GenAI) tools, such as ChatGPT, have the potential to accelerate software prototyping and enhance team collaboration by generating content, expanding ideation, and enabling faster feedback cycles. As prototyping is central to agile and user-centered design, helping teams validate ideas, refine requirements, and align solutions with user needs, GenAI may further amplify these benefits through iterative and collaborative support. However, how to effectively integrate GenAI into collaborative prototyping remains underexplored in Software Engineering (SE) education. This study explores how ChatGPT supports collaborative prototyping among student teams, focusing on interaction, organization, and decisionmaking. We conducted a case study with undergraduate teams using ChatGPT in project-based prototyping. Data were gathered through a questionnaire, prompt analysis, and observation. Team collaboration and prior experience influenced the use of ChatGPT. Jointly crafted prompts led to more relevant outputs, while simpler prompts resulted in reliance on generic responses. Students valued the tool for speeding up prototyping and ideation, despite challenges with prompt refinement and occasional misalignment. The study provides insights into the use of GenAI for prototyping in SE education, shedding light on its benefits and limitations for co-creation and team dynamics.
Keywords:
Software Prototyping, Generative AI, Team Collaboration, Software Engineering Education
References
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et al. Ulfsnes. 2024. Transforming Software Development with Generative AI: Empirical Insights on Collaboration and Workflow. In Proceedings of arXiv preprint (2024). arXiv:2405.01543
Muhammad Waseem, Teerath Das, Aakash Ahmad, Peng Liang, Mahdi Fehmideh, and Tommi Mikkonen. 2023. ChatGPT as a software development bot: a projectbased study. In Proceedings of arXiv preprint arXiv:2310.13648 (2023).
Robert K Yin. 2015. Estudo de Caso-: Planejamento e métodos. Bookman editora.
Ahmad Al-Ahmad, Hasan Kahtan, Luay Tahat, and Tarek Tahat. 2024. Enhancing Software Engineering with AI: Key Insights from ChatGPT. In International Conference on Decision Aid Sciences and Applications (DASA). IEEE, 1–5.
Noah Andersen-Kiel and Panagiotis Panos Linos. 2024. Using ChatGPT in Undergraduate Computer Science and Software Engineering Courses: A Students’ Perspective. In IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE). IEEE, 1–9.
Bilgram and Laarmann. 2023. Accelerating Innovation With Generative AI: AIAugmented Digital Prototyping and Innovation Methods. In In Proceedings of IEEE Conference.
Bogers and Horst. 2014. Collaborative Prototyping: Cross-Fertilization of Knowledge in Prototype-Driven Problem Solving. In Proceedings of Journal of Product Innovation Management (2014).
Javier Cámara, Javier Troya, Julio Montes-Torres, and Francisco J Jaime. 2024. Generative AI in the Software Modeling Classroom: An Experience Report with ChatGPT and UML. IEEE Software (2024).
Alfredo Capozucca, Daniil Yampolskyi, Alexander Goldberg, and Maximiliano Cristiá. 2025. Do AI assistants help students write formal specifications? A study with ChatGPT and the B-Method. In Proceedings of arXiv preprint arXiv:2502.07789 (2025).
Rudrajit Choudhuri, Ambareesh Ramakrishnan, Amreeta Chatterjee, Bianca Trinkenreich, Igor Steinmacher, Marco Gerosa, and Anita Sarma. 2024. Insights from the Frontline: GenAI Utilization Among Software Engineering Students. In Proceedings of arXiv preprint arXiv:2412.15624 (2024).
Fred D. Davis. 1989. Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology. MIS Quarterly 13, 3 (Sep 1989), 319–340.
Deshmukh and Wadhwa. 2007. A Meta Model for Iterative Development of Requirements Leveraging. In In Proceedings of IEEE Conference.
Marco Gerosa, Bianca Trinkenreich, Igor Steinmacher, and Anita Sarma. 2024. Can AI serve as a substitute for human subjects in software engineering research? In Proceedings of Automated Software Engineering 31, 1 (2024), 13.
Carolina Gill, Elizabeth Sanders, and Scott Shim. 2011. Prototypes as inquiry, visualization and communication. In DS 69: Proceedings of E&PDE 2011, the 13th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education, London, UK, 08.-09.09. 2011.
Khadija Hanifi, Orcun Cetin, and Cemal Yilmaz. 2023. On chatgpt: Perspectives from software engineering students. In 2023 IEEE 23rd International Conference on Software Quality, Reliability, and Security (QRS). IEEE, 196–205.
Xinyue Hao, Emrah Demir, and Daniel Eyers. 2024. Exploring collaborative decision-making: A quasi-experimental study of human and Generative AI interaction. In Proceedings of Technology in Society 78 (2024), 102662.
Rishabh Jha. 2024. Incorporating Generative AI Into Human Resource Practices. In Proceedings of SSRN Electronic Journal (2024).
Ankur Joshi, Saket Kale, Satish Chandel, and D Kumar Pal. 2015. Likert scale: Explored and explained. British journal of applied science & technology 7, 4 (2015), 396–403.
Hieke Keuning, Isaac Alpizar-Chacon, Ioanna Lykourentzou, Lauren Beehler, Christian Köppe, Imke de Jong, and Sergey Sosnovsky. 2024. Students’ Perceptions and Use of Generative AI Tools for Programming Across Different Computing Courses. In Proceedings of the 24th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research. 1–12.
Klaus Krippendorff. 2009. The content analysis reader. sage.
Kukreja and Boehm. 2013. Integrating collaborative requirements negotiation and prioritization processes: a match made in heaven. In In Proceedings of ACM Conference.
Alicja Laskowska, Jesus Gorroñogoitia Cruz, Paweł Kędziora, Ilaria Lener, Bartosz Lewandowski, Cezary Mazurek, and Massimiliano Di Penta. 2014. Best practices for validating research software prototypes-MARKOS case study. In eChallenges e-2014 Conference Proceedings. IEEE, 1–9.
et al. Mariana Coutinho. 2024. The Role of Generative AI in Software Development Productivity: A Pilot Case Study. In Proceedings of arXiv preprint (2024). arXiv:2406.00560 [cs.SE]
Jürgen Münch, Stefan Trieflinger, and Bernd Heisler. 2020. Product Discovery – Building the Right Things: Insights from a Grey Literature Review. In In Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Engineering, Technology and Innovation (ICE/ITMC). 1–8.
José Juan Ulín Ricárdez, Miguel Pérez Vasconcelos, Rosa Gómez Domínguez, and Fidelio Castillo Romero. 2024. Integration of Generative AI with ChatGPT in Software Development. INNOVACIÓN Y DESARROLLO TECNOLÓGICO REVISTA DIGITAL (2024).
Patricia de Oliveira Santos, Allan Chamon Figueiredo, Pedro Nuno Moura, Bruna Diirr, Adriana C. F. Alvim, and Rodrigo Pereira Dos Santos. 2024. Impacts of the Usage of Generative Artificial Intelligence on Software Development Process. In In Proceedings of the Brazilian Symposium on Information Systems (Juiz de Fora, Brazil) (SBSI ’24). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 65, 9 pages.
Albrecht Schmidt. 2023. Speeding Up the Engineering of Interactive Systems with Generative AI. In In Proceedings of the Symposium on Engineering Interactive Computing Systems (Swansea, United Kingdom) (EICS ’23 Companion). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 7–8.
Murillo Edson Souza and Murillo Edson Carvalho Souza. 2025. How Generative Artificial Intelligence Tools Can Improve the Quality of Software Produced by Software Development Teams. In Proceedings of How Generative Artificial Intelligence Tools Can Improve the Quality of Software Produced by Software Development Teams (2025).
et al. Subramonyam. 2024. Content-Centric Prototyping of Generative AI Applications: Emerging Approaches and Challenges in Collaborative Software Teams. In Proceedings of arXiv preprint (2024). arXiv:2402.17721
Hari Subramonyam, Divy Thakkar, Andrew Ku, Juergen Dieber, and Anoop K Sinha. 2025. Prototyping with Prompts: Emerging Approaches and Challenges in Generative AI Design for Collaborative Software Teams. In Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. 1–22.
et al. Szabluk. 2019. Experience design applied to research: an exploratory method of user centered research). Revista UNISINOS 8, 15 (2019).
et al. Theis. 2022. A IMPORTÂNCIA DA PROTOTIPAGEM NO PROCESSO DE DESIGN E SUAS RELAÇÕES COMO MÍDIA DO CONHECIMENTO. CIKI 1, 1 (2022).
et al. Ulfsnes. 2024. Transforming Software Development with Generative AI: Empirical Insights on Collaboration and Workflow. In Proceedings of arXiv preprint (2024). arXiv:2405.01543
Muhammad Waseem, Teerath Das, Aakash Ahmad, Peng Liang, Mahdi Fehmideh, and Tommi Mikkonen. 2023. ChatGPT as a software development bot: a projectbased study. In Proceedings of arXiv preprint arXiv:2310.13648 (2023).
Robert K Yin. 2015. Estudo de Caso-: Planejamento e métodos. Bookman editora.
Published
2025-11-04
How to Cite
PIRES, Alexandre; KLEINPAUL, Enzo; CAMPOS, Lorenzo; PARIZI, Rafael.
From Prompts to Prototypes: Exploring ChatGPT in Collaborative Software Prototyping Education. In: BRAZILIAN SOFTWARE QUALITY SYMPOSIUM (SBQS), 24. , 2025, São José dos Campos/SP.
Anais [...].
Porto Alegre: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação,
2025
.
p. 453-462.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/sbqs.2025.13937.
