Bringing AI into the Classroom: A Structured Approach for Integrating AI into Software Engineering Education

TL;DR

This paper proposes AI-Blueprints, a structured, adaptable approach for integrating AI topics into computer science education, supported by educator feedback and plans for future development.

Contribution

Introduction of AI-Blueprints as a structured method and open resource for embedding AI into software engineering curricula.

Findings

Educators see value in AI-Blueprints for curriculum integration

Feedback indicates blueprints can be adapted to various courses

Plans outlined for expanding the AI-Blueprint concept

Abstract

The recent emergence of generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs), particularly following the release of ChatGPT in late 2022, has significantly impacted both academic research and industrial practice. This development has vast potential to impact educational practices across various domains, particularly within computer science and software engineering courses. Unfortunately, there is still a lack of actionable guidance on how to integrate AI technology coherently into computer science curricula. In this paper, we therefore introduce the concept of AI-Blueprints, a structured approach to integrating AI-related topics and activities into various computer science courses. We describe our approach and outline a structured process for creating new blueprints. Our vision is to provide these blueprints as open educational resources, allowing educators to adapt and integrate AI into diverse courses and topics. As a preliminary validation, we conducted semi-structured interviews with six university-level educators, collecting feedback on how our blueprints could help to integrate AI topics into existing courses. Based on this feedback, we lay out plans for future research and expanding our AI-Blueprint concept.