Generative AI in Computer Science with Brett Becker
04/18/23 • 38 min
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Since November 2022, higher education has been trying to wrap its collective mind around the advent of AI text generators like ChatGPT. For those of us who teach courses where we might ask students to respond to a prompt by writing a short essay, ChatGPT and similar tools certainly seem to provide students a way out of doing that writing themselves.
However, our colleagues who teach computer science and computer programming often ask their students to write computer code in respond to a prompt. As it turns out, there are a number of generative AI tools that pre-date ChatGPT that can pretty much answer any coding question you might ask a student in a first- or second-semester programming class.
This means that computer science education has had a bit more time to figure out how to respond to new AI tools that can short circuit the learning process for their students. In this episode, I talk with Brett Becker, assistant professor at University College Dublin in the School of Computer Science. He has co-authored at least two papers on the use of AI code generation tools in computer science education, and he is deep in these discussions in his field.
In our conversation, Brett explores how new AI tools are leading computer science educators to rethink their learning goals, their assessments, and how they teach their students the ethics of computer programming. There are a lot of lessons here for educators in other fields figuring out what to do with AI tools!
Episode Resources:
Brett Becker's website, https://www.brettbecker.com/
"Programming Is Hard--Or At Least It Used to Be: Educational Opportunities and Challenges of AI Code Generation," co-authored by Brett Becker, https://www.brettbecker.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/becker2023programming.pdf
"'It's Weird That It Knows What I Want': Usability and Interactions with Copilot for Novice Programmers," co-authored by Brett Becker, https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.02491
Podcast Links:
Intentional Teaching is sponsored by UPCEA, the online and professional education association.
Subscribe to the Intentional Teaching newsletter: https://derekbruff.ck.page/subscribe
Support Intentional Teaching on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intentionalteaching
Find me on LinkedIn and Bluesky.
See my website for my "Agile Learning" blog and information about having me speak at your campus or conference.
Questions or comments about this episode? Send us a text massage.
Since November 2022, higher education has been trying to wrap its collective mind around the advent of AI text generators like ChatGPT. For those of us who teach courses where we might ask students to respond to a prompt by writing a short essay, ChatGPT and similar tools certainly seem to provide students a way out of doing that writing themselves.
However, our colleagues who teach computer science and computer programming often ask their students to write computer code in respond to a prompt. As it turns out, there are a number of generative AI tools that pre-date ChatGPT that can pretty much answer any coding question you might ask a student in a first- or second-semester programming class.
This means that computer science education has had a bit more time to figure out how to respond to new AI tools that can short circuit the learning process for their students. In this episode, I talk with Brett Becker, assistant professor at University College Dublin in the School of Computer Science. He has co-authored at least two papers on the use of AI code generation tools in computer science education, and he is deep in these discussions in his field.
In our conversation, Brett explores how new AI tools are leading computer science educators to rethink their learning goals, their assessments, and how they teach their students the ethics of computer programming. There are a lot of lessons here for educators in other fields figuring out what to do with AI tools!
Episode Resources:
Brett Becker's website, https://www.brettbecker.com/
"Programming Is Hard--Or At Least It Used to Be: Educational Opportunities and Challenges of AI Code Generation," co-authored by Brett Becker, https://www.brettbecker.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/becker2023programming.pdf
"'It's Weird That It Knows What I Want': Usability and Interactions with Copilot for Novice Programmers," co-authored by Brett Becker, https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.02491
Podcast Links:
Intentional Teaching is sponsored by UPCEA, the online and professional education association.
Subscribe to the Intentional Teaching newsletter: https://derekbruff.ck.page/subscribe
Support Intentional Teaching on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intentionalteaching
Find me on LinkedIn and Bluesky.
See my website for my "Agile Learning" blog and information about having me speak at your campus or conference.
Previous Episode
Deconstructing Calculus with Amy Langville and Kathryn Pedings-Behling
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Picture a calculus textbook. You’re probably picturing a hardback book an inch and a half thick, full of mathematical notation. The traditional calculus textbook can be intimidating for students, like five and a half pounds of pure confusion.
On today’s episode, I’m excited to share a conversation with two mathematics faculty at the College of Charleston: Amy Langville, professor of mathematics, and Kathryn Pedings-Behling, adjunct instructor of mathematics. Amy and Kathryn have designed a very different calculus textbook which they call Deconstruct Calculus. It’s one part textbook, one part journal, and part activity book, and I’ve never seen anything like it in higher ed.
Amy and Kathryn share the inspiration for Deconstruct Calculus, the activities and visual design the book uses to engage students and help them learn, and teaching principles from Deconstruct Calculus that can apply to any discipline.
Episode Resources:
· Deconstruct Calculus, https://www.deconstructcalc.com/
· Wreck This Journal by Keri Smith, https://kerismith.squarespace.com/books
· Small Teaching by James Lang, https://www.jamesmlang.com/books
· Leading Lines interview with Remi Kalir about annotation, https://leadinglinespod.com/uncategorized/episode-114remi-kalir/
Podcast Links:
Intentional Teaching is sponsored by UPCEA, the online and professional education association.
Subscribe to the Intentional Teaching newsletter: https://derekbruff.ck.page/subscribe
Support Intentional Teaching on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intentionalteaching
Find me on LinkedIn and Bluesky.
See my website for my "Agile Learning" blog and information about having me speak at your campus or conference.
Next Episode
Teaching for Mental Health with Robert Eaton and Bonnie Moon
Questions or comments about this episode? Send us a text massage.
On today’s podcast, I talk with the authors of a new book that can help college teachers better understand their students as whole people, while also providing lots of advice for instructors who want to better support their students’ learning. Robert Eaton and Bonnie Moon are authors, along with Steven Hunsaker, of Improving Learning and Mental Health in the College Classroom, the latest in West Virginia University Press’s Teaching and Learning in Higher Education series edited by James Lang and Michelle Miller. Rob Eaton is a professor of religious education at Brigham Young University-Idaho, and Bonnie Moon is a professor of mathematics, also at BYU-Idaho.
Rates of anxiety and depression among college students are higher than they’ve ever been, and Rob and Bonnie share lots of strategies in our conversation for instructors who don’t want to make learning harder than it needs to be for their students. As Rob says near the end of the conversation, “Not every difficulty is desirable.” Rob and Bonnie have talked to a lot of students about their learning experiences in college, and the two of them have very practical advice for designing courses and assignments with compassion and respect for students.
Episode Resources:
· Improving Learning and Mental Health in the College Classroom by Robert Eaton, Steven Hunsaker, and Bonnie Moon, https://wvupressonline.com/node/920
· The First Year Out: Understanding American Teens after High School, by Tim Clydesdale, https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/F/bo5298911.html
Podcast Links:
Intentional Teaching is sponsored by UPCEA, the online and professional education association.
Subscribe to the Intentional Teaching newsletter: https://derekbruff.ck.page/subscribe
Support Intentional Teaching on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intentionalteaching
Find me on LinkedIn and Bluesky.
See my website for my "Agile Learning" blog and information about having me speak at your campus or conference.
Intentional Teaching - Generative AI in Computer Science with Brett Becker
Transcript
Derek Bruff 0:07
Welcome to intentional teaching, a podcast aimed at educators to help them develop foundational teaching skills and explore new ideas in teaching. I'm your host, Derek Bruff. I Hope this podcast helps you be more intentional in how you teach and and how you develop as a teacher over time.
Derek Bruff 0:25
Since November 2022, higher education has been trying to wrap its collective mind around the advent of AI text generators like ChatGBT. You can ask one of these to
If you like this episode you’ll love
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