AI is used in every field now. Programming courses can just do what every other course does: tell the student that nobody can stop them from using AI, but if you do be prepared to fail the test. Leveraging AI for work, and the ethics of doing so, is something that can be covered in a different class. But my intro programming course taught the basics of programming, not what industry programming was like. Just like my intro to chemistry course never taught what it was like to work in the chemical industry.
AI is basically a slippery slope in all directions surrounded by pitfalls it misuse and abuse. People are too quick to trust it. I think a syllabus that includes a lesson warning people as early as possible about the dangers/risks is a good idea that is still relevant to the course. An ethics class for the deep dive is a fine idea, but I don’t think a chapter on analyzing this stuff in an Intro course is that out of bounds. Intro should at least address it, or at the very least not considered a waste of time.
How many programmers DON’T use AI to some degree already? As the technology continues to improve adoption and usage will only increase. Actually hand coding stuff is soon to be a mostly lost craft.
Programmers use AI to do work. The goal is to get work done. But the goal of a class is to learn. If the AI is helping you learn then that it’s probably fine, though many studies indicate that using AI actually hinders learning.
AI is used in every field now. Programming courses can just do what every other course does: tell the student that nobody can stop them from using AI, but if you do be prepared to fail the test. Leveraging AI for work, and the ethics of doing so, is something that can be covered in a different class. But my intro programming course taught the basics of programming, not what industry programming was like. Just like my intro to chemistry course never taught what it was like to work in the chemical industry.
AI is basically a slippery slope in all directions surrounded by pitfalls it misuse and abuse. People are too quick to trust it. I think a syllabus that includes a lesson warning people as early as possible about the dangers/risks is a good idea that is still relevant to the course. An ethics class for the deep dive is a fine idea, but I don’t think a chapter on analyzing this stuff in an Intro course is that out of bounds. Intro should at least address it, or at the very least not considered a waste of time.
How many programmers DON’T use AI to some degree already? As the technology continues to improve adoption and usage will only increase. Actually hand coding stuff is soon to be a mostly lost craft.
Programmers use AI to do work. The goal is to get work done. But the goal of a class is to learn. If the AI is helping you learn then that it’s probably fine, though many studies indicate that using AI actually hinders learning.