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To Tab or Not To Tab Wins Best Paper Award at ITiCSE 2026

· 8 min read
Ian Tyler Applebaum
Ian Tyler Applebaum
Instructor Temple University

I’m honored to share that our paper, To Tab or Not to Tab: Measuring Critical Engagement in AI Code Completion Tools Using Behavioral Signals and Attention Checks, won the Best Paper Award at ITiCSE 2026.

This recognition means a great deal to me because it recognizes not only the paper itself, but also the collaborative research process that brought it to life. ITiCSE received 412 submissions across its three paper tracks, and the selection process was highly competitive. Ultimately, 104 papers were accepted, for an acceptance rate of 25%, only 3 papers were nominated for Best Paper, and our paper was selected as the winner.

The paper is now available through the ACM Digital Library. If you want the deeper explanation of the research question, attention checks, and behavioral metrics, I expanded the earlier accepted-at-ITiCSE post into the paper-focused companion piece. This post is the celebration: Jess's presentation, the team, and the student-centered research culture behind the award.

🍀Spotlight

Jess' Leadership​

One of the greatest joys of this project has been watching Jess Hutchison grow into an outstanding research leader. She braved the challenges of a complex project, took remarkable ownership of the work, and developed the taxonomy of behavioral metrics that became central to the paper.

Seeing Jess present the work at ITiCSE with such confidence, clarity, and passion made me incredibly proud. This was her first publication, and watching her stand in front of the computing education community to explain work she helped shape was one of those moments that reminds me why undergraduate research matters so much.

The award is meaningful because it celebrates the research contribution, but it also celebrates the growth behind the contribution. Jess did not just participate in the project. She helped carry it, explain it, and turn it into something the broader HCI and computing education communities could recognize.

An Incredible Team​

This award reflects the work of an amazing team: Jessica Hutchison, Kenneth Angelikas, Kush Rakesh Patel, Jaime Phuoc Nguyen, Antonio Lazaro, Nicholas Rucinski, Rahad Arman Nabid, and our PI Stephen MacNeil. I am deeply grateful for the countless hours, thoughtful discussions, study design debates, implementation work, analysis, writing, and genuine collaboration that made this possible.

What I Am Proud Of​

No matter what happens after an award ceremony, I am most proud of what we built together. This project started with careful questions about how students engage with AI code completion tools, but it became something larger: a shared research effort where undergraduates could contribute real ideas, build confidence, and see their work matter to a broader community.

Winning Best Paper at ITiCSE 2026 is a celebration of rigorous work, student leadership, and the kind of collaborative research culture I care deeply about building. I am especially proud that Jess's leadership was so visible in this moment, and I am grateful to every collaborator who helped make the work stronger.

If you want the paper-centered explanation of attention checks and behavioral metrics, start with the earlier accepted-at-ITiCSE post. This post is the part of the story where I mostly want to say: I am proud of Jess, proud of this team, and grateful this work was recognized.