Coding and Gaming Design - AI Coding Assistants

AI Coding Assistants introduces students to the tools already transforming how professional software developers write code—and builds the critical skills needed to use them well. Using platforms like AskCodi and GitHub Copilot, students generate, analyze, and improve code with AI assistance, while learning why understanding what the AI suggests matters far more than simply accepting it.

Students begin by exploring how AI coding tools work at a conceptual level: what they're trained on, how they generate suggestions, and what kinds of tasks they do well versus where they tend to go wrong. This foundation helps students approach AI-generated code with the right level of skepticism.

From there, students work through a series of guided coding tasks using AI assistants, generating solutions and then carefully evaluating them—checking for logic errors, inefficiencies, and cases where the AI missed the point of the problem entirely. The lesson makes clear that AI suggestions are a starting point, not a finished product.

Students also discuss the broader implications of AI coding tools in the tech industry: how they're changing entry-level development roles, what skills remain distinctly human, and why understanding code will matter more, not less, as AI writing code becomes routine.

Students leave with hands-on experience using professional AI development tools and a framework for using them thoughtfully throughout their coding work.

ISTE Standards 1 and 5 aligned.