Post #1960478

2026-05-04 14:38 UTC

LLMs are changing every aspect of higher education, but perhaps none more so than computer science, where LLMs inflame the age-old tension between the thrill of building and the importance of first-principles understanding. Today, @ahl@mastodon.social and I will be joined by Brown University CS professors Shriram Krishnamurthi and Kathi Fisler to talk about their experience teaching an agentic AI course -- and what it might bode for the future of CS education. Join us, 5p Pacific today! https://discord.gg/QrcKGTTPrF?event=1500866494588780544

Replies (5)

@mikalai@privacysafe.social 2026-05-04 15:24

@bcantrill@mastodon.social @ahl@mastodon.social Important point, quote: ... the age-old tension between the thrill of building and the importance of first-principles understanding ...

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@Oytis@mastodon.social 2026-05-04 16:26

@bcantrill@mastodon.social was there a tension before LLMs? I think it has been pretty much a commonplace that the best way to understand something is to build it

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@cjek420@hachyderm.io 2026-05-04 16:42

@bcantrill@mastodon.social @ahl@mastodon.social The “thrill of building” with a LLM is like saying “thrill of shopping at Walmart”

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@efraim@tooot.im 2026-05-08 08:42

@bcantrill@mastodon.social @ahl@mastodon.social I barely remember seeing the anti-drugs ad you mentioned. "I learned it from you Dad!" Born in 1985. One of my early TV memories was watching the Berlin Wall fall. Have heard of Love Boat, never bothered to look up what it was.

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@penryu@hachyderm.io 2026-05-15 01:04

@bcantrill@mastodon.social @ahl@mastodon.social Great, remarkably balanced discussion of AI's place in curricula and industry! While skepticism of the students towards LLM use differs noticeably from that of several other university instructors I've talked with, I'm still left more optimistic than I expected. I'm afraid all the Brown in-jokes were lost on me, though.

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