#csed — Public Fediverse posts

Mike Caulfield has developed a "deep background" AI prompt that students and others can use to make AI chatbots act like a useful research assistant, suitable for academic work:

https://checkplease.neocities.org/sift-toolbox/

(The page says you need a paid version of Claude or ChatGPT; I think that advice is from a couple years ago, and these days I think the context windows for basically all the frontier models are good enough on the free version.)

It makes the LLM fact-check itself, verify results, describe how confident it is, and so on. I've used it a lot and it's very useful.

I'm wondering about an equivalent for students in a programming course.

This would be shorter; the LLMs already know the programming language (probably), though it would be good to make sure it uses up-to-date versions and practices. I've had a lot of success with this -- tell it to act like a teacher, help you learn and understand; don't write the code for me, engage in Socratic dialogue, and so on.

What phrases or techniques have you used to prompt a chatbot and have it help you learn how to program, or learn some computer science topic? If I give such a prompt to my students, what should I put in it?

#csed #programming

Mike Caulfield has developed a "deep background" AI prompt that students and others can use to make AI chatbots act like a useful research assistant, suitable for academic work:

https://checkplease.neocities.org/sift-toolbox/

(The page says you need a paid version of Claude or ChatGPT; I think that advice is from a couple years ago, and these days I think the context windows for basically all the frontier models are good enough on the free version.)

It makes the LLM fact-check itself, verify results, describe how confident it is, and so on. I've used it a lot and it's very useful.

I'm wondering about an equivalent for students in a programming course.

This would be shorter; the LLMs already know the programming language (probably), though it would be good to make sure it uses up-to-date versions and practices. I've had a lot of success with this -- tell it to act like a teacher, help you learn and understand; don't write the code for me, engage in Socratic dialogue, and so on.

What phrases or techniques have you used to prompt a chatbot and have it help you learn how to program, or learn some computer science topic? If I give such a prompt to my students, what should I put in it?

#csed #programming

There an AI + Machine Learning course in my masters program, and I'm very happy that it's "use pandas to do math" and not "use a chatbot to make up some stuff" #csed

There an AI + Machine Learning course in my masters program, and I'm very happy that it's "use pandas to do math" and not "use a chatbot to make up some stuff" #csed

So how do we train students for this new programming + AI reality?
https://profgallaugher.substack.com/p/aws-ceo-amazon-to-hire-11000-interns #CSed

So how do we train students for this new programming + AI reality?
https://profgallaugher.substack.com/p/aws-ceo-amazon-to-hire-11000-interns #CSed

I am so close to submitting this monster 25 page paper / project, and I am so looking forward to thinking about anything else for a while. I think tonight's the night after some edits. #csed #wgu

I am so close to submitting this monster 25 page paper / project, and I am so looking forward to thinking about anything else for a while. I think tonight's the night after some edits. #csed #wgu

CS education folks!

I just read a very interesting paper:

Margaret-Anne Storey. 2026. From Technical Debt to Cognitive and Intent Debt: Rethinking Software Health in the Age of AI. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2603.22106

It gives us a couple good ways to describe to students what is lost when they have an AI write all their code -- namely, that you're incurring cognitive and intent debt.

But I have a colleague (Dave Musicant at Carleton College) who had an experience that seems to suggest we need another category of this debt/capital.

The assignment was a relatively large project (implement a Scheme interpreter in C). My colleague had a student who he was quite certain had AI write all the code. His assessment includes an oral exam in which he asks the student questions about the code. This student was able to answer his questions pretty well. So the student had, in terms of that paper, very little technical, cognitive, or intent debt.

But it seems like the student is missing...something. It seems like a student who completed that assignment without any AI use would get something out of the experience that the AI-using student didn't. Some knowledge? Some skill? Some attitude or habit of mind? What kind of capital is developed by that student?

Thoughts?

#csed #cseducation #education #softwaredevelopment

CS education folks!

I just read a very interesting paper:

Margaret-Anne Storey. 2026. From Technical Debt to Cognitive and Intent Debt: Rethinking Software Health in the Age of AI. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2603.22106

It gives us a couple good ways to describe to students what is lost when they have an AI write all their code -- namely, that you're incurring cognitive and intent debt.

But I have a colleague (Dave Musicant at Carleton College) who had an experience that seems to suggest we need another category of this debt/capital.

The assignment was a relatively large project (implement a Scheme interpreter in C). My colleague had a student who he was quite certain had AI write all the code. His assessment includes an oral exam in which he asks the student questions about the code. This student was able to answer his questions pretty well. So the student had, in terms of that paper, very little technical, cognitive, or intent debt.

But it seems like the student is missing...something. It seems like a student who completed that assignment without any AI use would get something out of the experience that the AI-using student didn't. Some knowledge? Some skill? Some attitude or habit of mind? What kind of capital is developed by that student?

Thoughts?

#csed #cseducation #education #softwaredevelopment

#introduction Hello fediverse! I'm a queer, disabled prof at McGill University, with a 50/50 appointment in computer science and education (DISE).

I'm currently on medical leave with #LongCovid. 😷

Generally my research has focused on the sociology of computer science education. #CSEd #STS #sociology

Other research interests of mine include sustainability education, critical pedagogy, history of CS, sociology of professions, #DisabilityStudies, and #QueerStudies. 🌈

I'm a cat parent, tree-hugger, Linux/FOSS enthusiast, and sci-fi nerd. Here is my void:

#introduction Hello fediverse! I'm a queer, disabled prof at McGill University, with a 50/50 appointment in computer science and education (DISE).

I'm currently on medical leave with #LongCovid. 😷

Generally my research has focused on the sociology of computer science education. #CSEd #STS #sociology

Other research interests of mine include sustainability education, critical pedagogy, history of CS, sociology of professions, #DisabilityStudies, and #QueerStudies. 🌈

I'm a cat parent, tree-hugger, Linux/FOSS enthusiast, and sci-fi nerd. Here is my void:

It was fantastic to learn from Kylie McColl’s workshop on K-12 outreach at the 2025 IDEATE Summit! 🎓
If we want more diverse students in computing at Australian unis, we need to rethink how we engage with schools.
See the slides: https://ideate.community/resources/outreach/
#HigherEd #Computing #STEM #Diversity #K12 #CompSci #Inclusion #CSed #AussieEd #EdTech

It was fantastic to learn from Kylie McColl’s workshop on K-12 outreach at the 2025 IDEATE Summit! 🎓
If we want more diverse students in computing at Australian unis, we need to rethink how we engage with schools.
See the slides: https://ideate.community/resources/outreach/
#HigherEd #Computing #STEM #Diversity #K12 #CompSci #Inclusion #CSed #AussieEd #EdTech

Calling all Australian uni computing and software engineering educators!

IDEATE is hosting a free workshop on UDL in tech on May 19. Learn how to design inclusive courses. Better student experience, less need for adjustments.

Details: https://events.humanitix.com/ideate-workshop-resources-for-udl-in-tech

#UDL #EdTech #HigherEd #CSed

Calling all Australian uni computing and software engineering educators!

IDEATE is hosting a free workshop on UDL in tech on May 19. Learn how to design inclusive courses. Better student experience, less need for adjustments.

Details: https://events.humanitix.com/ideate-workshop-resources-for-udl-in-tech

#UDL #EdTech #HigherEd #CSed

Charles Martin has an excellent set of resources for Australian university tutors in computing and software engineering — a great addition to your tutor induction toolkit. Find them in IDEATE's resources:
https://ideate.community/resources/educator-development/

#HigherEd #Accessibility #CSed #Computing #SoftwareEngineering #UniAus

Build a Flash Card app in #SwiftUI using #SwiftData. One of two apps my students needed to build w/o AI during their hands-on 2.5 hr. in-class 2nd mid-term. Use this as a test, (pause after each question shown, complete, and compare answers), or watch it as a refresher lesson that provides a "recipe" breakdown for thinking about basic SwiftData setup w/MockData. https://youtu.be/pyKM3FJhQWg #CSed, #ADE, #Swift

Build a Flash Card app in #SwiftUI using #SwiftData. One of two apps my students needed to build w/o AI during their hands-on 2.5 hr. in-class 2nd mid-term. Use this as a test, (pause after each question shown, complete, and compare answers), or watch it as a refresher lesson that provides a "recipe" breakdown for thinking about basic SwiftData setup w/MockData. https://youtu.be/pyKM3FJhQWg #CSed, #ADE, #Swift

"Ghost Catch", an accessibility game I'm prototyping for the Campus School at Boston College, which allows children with severe motor restrictions to pass an animation back and forth. https://youtu.be/98N8J6Ri4L4 GitHub repo in description. #CircuitPython #MakerSpace #TechForGood #Accessibility #CSed

"Ghost Catch", an accessibility game I'm prototyping for the Campus School at Boston College, which allows children with severe motor restrictions to pass an animation back and forth. https://youtu.be/98N8J6Ri4L4 GitHub repo in description. #CircuitPython #MakerSpace #TechForGood #Accessibility #CSed

#CSed friends, my academic interests have shifted hard toward tech ed (flipped class, SwiftUI app dev, Physical Computing w/Assistive Tech). Am wondering which conferences I should seek out to share ideas with other educators.

#CSed friends, my academic interests have shifted hard toward tech ed (flipped class, SwiftUI app dev, Physical Computing w/Assistive Tech). Am wondering which conferences I should seek out to share ideas with other educators.

Such a nice profile of the #AssistiveTech work being done by my Boston College Physical Computing students. https://www.bc.edu/content/bc-web/sites/bc-news/articles/2026/spring/the-class-that-makes-a-difference-.html May be interesting to folks in the #CSed #MakerSpace #RaspberryPi and #CircuitPython communities.

Such a nice profile of the #AssistiveTech work being done by my Boston College Physical Computing students. https://www.bc.edu/content/bc-web/sites/bc-news/articles/2026/spring/the-class-that-makes-a-difference-.html May be interesting to folks in the #CSed #MakerSpace #RaspberryPi and #CircuitPython communities.

90 min newbie intro to #CircuitPython #raspberrypipico workshop. Lights, sound, potentiometer, and servo! Slides I use with parts & code for all #csed & #makerspace educators can be found at https://bit.ly/pico-workshop If you want to see a student demo video see: https://bsky.app/profile/gallaugher.bsky.social/post/3mhnmurcaqk2f

90 min newbie intro to #CircuitPython #raspberrypipico workshop. Lights, sound, potentiometer, and servo! Slides I use with parts & code for all #csed & #makerspace educators can be found at https://bit.ly/pico-workshop If you want to see a student demo video see: https://bsky.app/profile/gallaugher.bsky.social/post/3mhnmurcaqk2f

SnackHomiez: from last night's #SwiftUI Mid-Term. A nonsense app celebrating SNL's best sketches of the Season using concepts learned in the first 1/3 of the course. Low key valid https://youtu.be/_BJ8oaZW6Co #CSed fam, especially those teaching slang-tacular Gen-Alpha, this one's for you. Fire 🔥!

SnackHomiez: from last night's #SwiftUI Mid-Term. A nonsense app celebrating SNL's best sketches of the Season using concepts learned in the first 1/3 of the course. Low key valid https://youtu.be/_BJ8oaZW6Co #CSed fam, especially those teaching slang-tacular Gen-Alpha, this one's for you. Fire 🔥!

Diplo on your Pico! Build a polyphonic multi-sound DJ board on a sheet of paper using CircuitPython and a RaspberryPi Pico! https://bit.ly/pico-dj-board a super fun classroom build for the #CSed fam. @adafruit Adalogger Cowbell allows gigabytes of sound from the @raspberrypi Pico #circuitpython #raspberrypi #RaspberryPiPico #dj

Diplo on your Pico! Build a polyphonic multi-sound DJ board on a sheet of paper using CircuitPython and a RaspberryPi Pico! https://bit.ly/pico-dj-board a super fun classroom build for the #CSed fam. @adafruit Adalogger Cowbell allows gigabytes of sound from the @raspberrypi Pico #circuitpython #raspberrypi #RaspberryPiPico #dj

Fun lesson - Build a @raspberrypi.com pico DJ board while learning to use the @adafruit.com $8 Adalogger Cowbell to expand file storage to 32GB, & add a STEMMA-QT port with no wiring! My students built this in the MakerSpace last class & it was a blast! https://youtu.be/yZdR7oGbTX8?si=HQveNpNpnvKJrTJK #CircuitPython #CSEd

Fun lesson - Build a @raspberrypi.com pico DJ board while learning to use the @adafruit.com $8 Adalogger Cowbell to expand file storage to 32GB, & add a STEMMA-QT port with no wiring! My students built this in the MakerSpace last class & it was a blast! https://youtu.be/yZdR7oGbTX8?si=HQveNpNpnvKJrTJK #CircuitPython #CSEd

Computing educators: Are your courses accessible to all students? 💻🎓
Join our free webinar on Universal Design for Learning. Equip your students for success by designing for diversity.
🎟️ https://events.humanitix.com/ideate-webinar-udl-in-tech
#AcademicSky #CSed #HigherEd #UDL #Accessibility #SoftwareEngineering #TechEducation

#CSed w/AI is *so* different than what we'd previously done. We had taught techniques with mostly right and wrong implementations. Now it's: you've got this skilled and flawed team that will give you different answers than your peers. Build skills to manage & critique these partners. It's like we now need to teach project management while teaching fundamentals to students who are supervising work in an unfamiliar domain.

#CSed w/AI is *so* different than what we'd previously done. We had taught techniques with mostly right and wrong implementations. Now it's: you've got this skilled and flawed team that will give you different answers than your peers. Build skills to manage & critique these partners. It's like we now need to teach project management while teaching fundamentals to students who are supervising work in an unfamiliar domain.

Excited that our report on two stage exams in Computer Science is now published! This is the result of the ITiCSE working group I led in 2025: a very intense year of work with data collection in three countries and six universities with a fantastic group of CS instructor/researchers. If you've ever thought about running a two stage exam in a CS course, you should check out our comprehensive report:

https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3760545.3783964

#CSed #iticse2025

Excited that our report on two stage exams in Computer Science is now published! This is the result of the ITiCSE working group I led in 2025: a very intense year of work with data collection in three countries and six universities with a fantastic group of CS instructor/researchers. If you've ever thought about running a two stage exam in a CS course, you should check out our comprehensive report:

https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3760545.3783964

#CSed #iticse2025

#MakerSpace, #makered, STEMed and #csed folks, here's a super-fun challenge lesson I use in class: Build a Baby Groot who talks when his plant is touched. Uses #Adafruit #CircuitPython a Circuit Playground, a 3D printed planter, laser-cut box, but lots of options abound. https://youtu.be/gEmyZ7ZWMIo

#MakerSpace, #makered, STEMed and #csed folks, here's a super-fun challenge lesson I use in class: Build a Baby Groot who talks when his plant is touched. Uses #Adafruit #CircuitPython a Circuit Playground, a 3D printed planter, laser-cut box, but lots of options abound. https://youtu.be/gEmyZ7ZWMIo

SIGCSE Virtual, the semi-annual online conference of the ACM's Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education, will be held Nov. 12-15, 2026.

https://sigcse.org/events/virtual/

Please boost for reach.

#acm #ComputerScience #education #conference #teaching #pedagogy #CSEd #SIGCSE #SIGCSEVirtual

SIGCSE Virtual, the semi-annual online conference of the ACM's Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education, will be held Nov. 12-15, 2026.

https://sigcse.org/events/virtual/

Please boost for reach.

#acm #ComputerScience #education #conference #teaching #pedagogy #CSEd #SIGCSE #SIGCSEVirtual

New playlist to build the #SwiftUI "DungeonDice" app for multi-dice D&D / RPG rolling sessions. Fully updated for iOS26. Lots of detailed explanations that new students & #CSed teachers may find useful. Already the 6th week of the semester. Enjoy! https://bit.ly/dungeon-dice-app

New playlist to build the #SwiftUI "DungeonDice" app for multi-dice D&D / RPG rolling sessions. Fully updated for iOS26. Lots of detailed explanations that new students & #CSed teachers may find useful. Already the 6th week of the semester. Enjoy! https://bit.ly/dungeon-dice-app

Racket birthday party and meet-up: Saturday, 7 February 2026 at 18:00 UTC

EVERYONE WELCOME 😁

Announcement, Jitsi Meet link & discussion at https://racket.discourse.group/t/racket-birthday-party-and-meet-up-saturday-7-february-2026-at-18-00-utc/4085
#lisp #scheme #metaprogramming #csed #cs

Racket birthday party and meet-up: Saturday, 7 February 2026 at 18:00 UTC

EVERYONE WELCOME 😁

Announcement, Jitsi Meet link & discussion at https://racket.discourse.group/t/racket-birthday-party-and-meet-up-saturday-7-february-2026-at-18-00-utc/4085
#lisp #scheme #metaprogramming #csed #cs

Are you teaching SwiftUI w/Xcode & GitHub Classroom? Here is the lesson I share w/my students. My class receives a GitHub Classroom submission link via Canvas, everything else should be the same. Hope that helps! https://youtu.be/LzA7e73axRY #CSed #Swift #SwiftUI #Xcode #GitHub

Are you teaching SwiftUI w/Xcode & GitHub Classroom? Here is the lesson I share w/my students. My class receives a GitHub Classroom submission link via Canvas, everything else should be the same. Hope that helps! https://youtu.be/LzA7e73axRY #CSed #Swift #SwiftUI #Xcode #GitHub

Some of my @bostoncollege.bsky.social Physical Computing students delivering their #CircuitPython based assistive tech projects to their clients in the BC Campus School. I’m so lucky to work with such wonderful young people. https://www.instagram.com/p/DTljI53jW9h/?img_index=9&igsh=MWFkZ21xdDB2c215Yg== #csed #assistivetech

Some of my @bostoncollege.bsky.social Physical Computing students delivering their #CircuitPython based assistive tech projects to their clients in the BC Campus School. I’m so lucky to work with such wonderful young people. https://www.instagram.com/p/DTljI53jW9h/?img_index=9&igsh=MWFkZ21xdDB2c215Yg== #csed #assistivetech

New #CircuitPython School lesson introduces key concepts: variable naming conventions, print & input for maker / electronics debugging, & AI code completion in PyCharm w/helpful & incorrect results. Also: Using AI for CircuitPython code explanations w/prompting examples. https://youtu.be/-wIqy7drCN8 #CSed

New #CircuitPython School lesson introduces key concepts: variable naming conventions, print & input for maker / electronics debugging, & AI code completion in PyCharm w/helpful & incorrect results. Also: Using AI for CircuitPython code explanations w/prompting examples. https://youtu.be/-wIqy7drCN8 #CSed

Good luck #CSed faculty prepping for next semester. Show me your maker closets! Here's the cart with many (although not all) of the parts I use for PhysicalComputing: Art, Robotics, and Tech for Good - the #CircuitPython course I teach accessible from new-to-code through advanced CS students.

Good luck #CSed faculty prepping for next semester. Show me your maker closets! Here's the cart with many (although not all) of the parts I use for PhysicalComputing: Art, Robotics, and Tech for Good - the #CircuitPython course I teach accessible from new-to-code through advanced CS students.

About halfway through the Agentic AI for Python course from @talkpython. Thoughts:

As a CS educator, I can't ignore this.

Useful practice: restart the chat often to save computation/money/energy/carbon/water.

Repos will be flooded with LLM-built code, some skillfully supervised, some not.

How important is talking to the LLM in clear, complete sentences? What of all the people who are highly skilled software engineers but have limited English skills?

#ai #coding #ComputerScience #CSEd

About halfway through the Agentic AI for Python course from @talkpython. Thoughts:

As a CS educator, I can't ignore this.

Useful practice: restart the chat often to save computation/money/energy/carbon/water.

Repos will be flooded with LLM-built code, some skillfully supervised, some not.

How important is talking to the LLM in clear, complete sentences? What of all the people who are highly skilled software engineers but have limited English skills?

#ai #coding #ComputerScience #CSEd

Review of Moral Codes: Designing Alternatives to AI by Alan Blackwell https://read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/article/doi/10.1215/2834703X-12096054/406212/Moral-Codes-Designing-Alternatives-to-AI
"This is a crisis of human attention...being human is grounded in “being attending and attentive beings, paying attention” (11). Platform AI is designed to consume our attention and harvest our data. It will continue to damage human agency, attention, and intelligence, Blackwell insists, unless at least two things happen." #AI #CSEd #AIEd

Review of Moral Codes: Designing Alternatives to AI by Alan Blackwell https://read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/article/doi/10.1215/2834703X-12096054/406212/Moral-Codes-Designing-Alternatives-to-AI
"This is a crisis of human attention...being human is grounded in “being attending and attentive beings, paying attention” (11). Platform AI is designed to consume our attention and harvest our data. It will continue to damage human agency, attention, and intelligence, Blackwell insists, unless at least two things happen." #AI #CSEd #AIEd

Yesterday I was talking to a bunch of computer science teachers about how proud I was that my best programmer in y12 was a girl and one of the middle aged men said quite sagely that he tells his boys that they should look forward to working with girls because they're a different style of programmer and they may not be as good or as fast but they are excellent *communicators*.
He saw no irony in saying that to me when I could program him into a corner with my hands tied behind my back. Snort
#csed

I really want to ask this on 10 years ago twitter because there were teachers there but here goes.

My main attempt to counter cheats in my coding class has been to have a keystroke logger. Last night I watched the keystrokes of a student who has difficulty with for loops in class write a whole working stock tracking app in 3 hours. This is not possible. I cannot prove anything. What can I do in the future that avoids this possibility for other students? Or is it all over and I just need exams?
#csed