Generative AI lets educational researchers build software without coding experience.

Turning educational studies into real software usually requires expert programmers, so most research stays on paper. Because generative AI now writes code from plain instructions, researchers without programming skills can build working tools themselves. To guide this, the author created a framework called educational research-driven development. It blends the steps of doing research with the standard stages of building software. It offers two ways to work: finishing the study before coding, or running both steps together. To show how it works, a non-technical researcher used generative AI to build a working web app that helps teachers track student mental health observations. However, this framework still needs rigorous research to validate it and see if it works widely.

Why it matters

Educational researchers can now directly turn their findings into functional software for educators and schools, without needing to learn programming. This means research can have immediate practical impact, and tools like student mental health trackers can be built by the people who understand the needs best. It bridges the gap between academic research and real-world application.

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