From perception to performance : an empirical study of student team collaboration and success in an agile software engineering course

Fujs, Damjan (author), Vavpotič, Damjan (author), Poženel, Marko (author)

Software engineering education widely adopts Agile and project-based learning approaches. However, questions remain about how student roles, perceptions, and the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) relate to learning outcomes. In this exploratory study, we investigate how students engage in a semester-long project-based agile course by examining three core elements: their software development roles and Scrum roles, their expectations and actual use of LLMs, and their perceptions of teamwork and learning practices. We focus on differences between below-average and above-average performing students, thereby linking project outcomes to effort, perceptions, and role-specific engagement. Our analyses show that student effort is strongly associated with performance, and that the distribution of typical software development roles relates to meaningful differences in both engagement and outcomes. The findings show that front-end developers tend to exhibit lower engagement and performance, indicating a need for role-specific support. Although students were expected to use LLMs, actual usage was limited, especially in complex tasks like testing and deployment, revealing a clear expectation–use gap rather than allowing conclusions about its underlying causes. Higher-performing students reported more positive perceptions of team collaboration and Scrum practices, suggesting a link between engagement, perception, and outcomes. Together, these findings contribute to understanding how roles, perceptions, and LLM expectations interact with student performance in agile, project-based settings.

• Language: English
• Keywords: software development, web application, lab teaching, industry, team work, computational thinking, LLM
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FRI - Faculty of Computer and Information Science
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: 36 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 33, iss. 3, art. 88
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-184035
• UDC: 004.4:378.147
• ISSN on article: 0928-8910
• DOI: 10.1007/s10515-026-00633-w
• COBISS.SI-ID: 280244995
• Publication date in RUL: 24.06.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Automated software engineering
• Shortened title: Autom. softw. eng.
• Publisher: Springer Nature
• ISSN: 0928-8910
• COBISS.SI-ID: 512513305

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: razvoj programske opreme, spletne aplikacije, razvojno delo, industrija, timsko delo, računalniško razmišljanje, veliki jezikovni modeli

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: P2-0426
• Name: Digitalna preobrazba za pametno javno upravljanje