Title "What is Programming – and What Can It Teach Us About Learning in the Age of AI?"

Abstract:

Programming is one of the domains currently being most visibly disrupted by generative AI. But precisely because AI can now perform much of the low-level work traditionally associated with programming, it forces us to reconsider a more fundamental question: What is programming actually about?

In this talk, I use programming as a lens for exploring how generative AI is reshaping competence, learning, and education more broadly. Starting from historical and contemporary perspectives on programming, I argue that programming has never been merely about writing code: it also involves understanding problems, designing solutions, reasoning about quality and consequences, and critically evaluating what has been produced.

Generative AI changes the distribution of this work. Some activities can increasingly be delegated to AI, while others become more important. At the same time, new competencies emerge around prompting, reviewing, and orchestrating AI-generated contributions.

This raises a broader educational challenge: What should students learn in the age of AI, and how do we make sure they actually learn it? The talk concludes by connecting these questions to competence development, assessment, and Constructive Alignment, distinguishing between what students should be able to do without AI, with AI, and about AI.

Although programming provides the concrete case, the underlying challenge extends far beyond computing: how do we educate competent professionals when AI can increasingly perform parts of the work for them?

Based on two strands of joint work: with Sebastian Mateos Nicolajsen and with Paul Denny.

Bio:

Claus Brabrand (PhD from Aarhus University) is Professor of Computing Education at the IT University of Copenhagen and Head of the Center for Computing Education Research (CCER). His research focuses on programming education, educational theory and methods, generative AI in education, and diversity in computing. He is the recipient of the Danish National Teaching Award (2020) and writer and director of the educational film Teaching Teaching & Understanding Understanding. His recent work examines what programming and computing education mean in the age of generative AI, and how education needs to adapt accordingly.