The Coin Has Three Sides: Human-Computer Symbiosis in the Future of Computing Education by R. Benjamin Shapiro
Abstract
In 1960, J. C. R. Licklider envisioned a future where computers are more than just tools that rapidly and reliably execute our commands. Instead, they become our symbiotic partners in problem solving, guiding and challenging our reasoning, and even helping us to formulate what problems to solve.
Advancements in generative and agentic AI are bringing aspects of Licklider’s vision to life, and quickly changing professional software engineering. New tools can turn software developers’ plans into programs, and those programs might even be correct. Some researchers and practitioners are exploring how these technologies can enable new pedagogical practices, while many others are scrambling to figure out near-term adjustments to their courses in light of how these technologies challenge their current teaching and assessment practices. Few, if any, of these efforts address the equally important shift in what software even is: programs are increasingly hybrid compositions of code, prompts, and models, rather than code alone. To respond to and influence these changes, computing education researchers must take on the challenge of re-imagining what computing education, and even programming itself, should be.
I will discuss the changing nature of programs and the implications of these changes for the future of programming. Then, I will demonstrate how new development tools could support symbiotic processes of human-AI software engineering for hybrid programs. Finally, I will describe an expansive set of research questions for computing education researchers to investigate in order to shape the future of computing education and contribute to inventing the future of programming.
Bio
Dr. R. Benjamin Shapiro is an Associate Professor and the Associate Director for Community in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. He is also faculty in Human-Centered Design & Engineering and Learning Sciences & Human Development at the University of Washington, where he also co-directs the Center for Learning, Computing, and Imagination. Ben is a learning scientist, and his research concentrates on developing ways for youth and adults to create and use computational media for creative expression, investigation of the world around them, and making positive social change. His award-winning trans-disciplinary research engages with topics ranging from AI education and research ethics to feminist re-imagination of science and art education. He earned his PhD in Learning Sciences from Northwestern University and his B.A. in Independent Studies from the University of California San Diego.