Coming soon: AI-specific curriculum and teacher training, plus AI-enhanced learning platform
We’re working to safely and equitably bring AI education and AI tools into every classroom.
When ChatGPT launched, I showed it to my children, and my 16-year-old immediately asked, “Can I use this for homework?” Before I could answer, he added, “Wait, what’s the point of school if this can do it all?”
Educators are coping with questions like these globally, often banning access to buy time. Meanwhile, AI technology is improving at an accelerating pace. Large language models like GPT-4 have brought on a new wave of technology that will have a lasting impact on society. Although we’re still in the early stages, AI will be intertwined with our everyday lives, and our education systems need to reflect that.
Since our launch 10 years ago, 80 million students and 2.5 million teachers have created accounts on our platform to learn and teach computer science, and 1.6 billion Hours of Code introduced computer science to millions of students in 190 countries and territories.
As we look forward to the next 10 years — and as a steering member of the newly announced TeachAI — Code.org is making a commitment to expand our curriculum and enhance our platform to include artificial intelligence (AI). Our goal is to incorporate AI curriculum and tools into the Code.org platform reaching 150 million students by the year 2030.
AI curriculum and tools to enhance student outcomes
Today, Code.org curriculum teaches aspects of AI through our How AI Works video series, AI for Oceans tutorial, AI Ethics lessons, and AI & Machine Learning module. Given the accelerating innovation in the space, we will expand our curriculum, going deeper into what AI is, how AI works, its societal and ethical implications, and how to use generative AI safely, inclusively, and effectively. We will do this through the following:
- Introducing cross-curricular generative AI modules
- Enhancing our How AI Works video series with associated lessons, including new videos about generative AI featuring OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, and Runway CEO Cristobal Valenzuela.
- Creating new modules that delve into how AI is used in natural language processing, image generation, computer vision, and code generation
- Enabling students to work hands-on with AI models
Additionally, AI innovation has made it possible to improve CS learning outcomes across diverse student populations at scale. By integrating generative AI into our learning platform, we can provide customized support for each student. This scenario could be critical for students from underserved and underrepresented groups. Our plan is to offer:
- AI-powered validation and formative assessment of students’ work.
- This validation and assessment will be presented to students as an AI-powered Tutor, delivering customized hints, feedback, and encouragement on CS concepts as they work through their projects’ coding, debugging, and testing phases.
Teacher training and tools to improve instruction
To fully leverage the potential for AI to improve student learning outcomes, we must enhance the teaching experience and support teachers in the role they play in the classroom. To that end, we are currently developing:
- Specialized teacher training programs, workshops, and online webinars to help educators learn about AI and enable them to incorporate AI into classrooms effectively and with enhanced learning outcomes.
- An AI-powered Teaching Assistant that can give teachers an understanding of progress toward Code.org learning outcomes and standards along with intervention recommendations, identify struggling students and suggest lesson plans to support differentiation, and monitor cheating.
- An AI-powered Professional Learning Coach that can give teachers just-in-time and customized professional learning, provide pacing, progress, and lesson hints, “test classrooms and students” to improve their CS teaching skills, and provide AI-based product and curriculum support.
We are committed to preparing students for this new era with Code.org’s curriculum, teacher training programs and AI-enhanced learning platform. Together, we can ensure that students are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to thrive in the future.
To start bringing AI into your classroom, please visit code.org/ai.
— Hadi Partovi, CEO of Code.org
Code.org is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to every student having the opportunity to learn computer science as part of their core K-12 education. We are publicly funded by people like you. If you would like to join our commitment to computer science education by making a donation today, please click here. For questions, please contact Development at giving@code.org or (206) 593–5521. Thank you.
