Using AI in this course#
AI is a valuable tool and we encourage students to use it to support and supplement their learning but not to replace it.
Knowing how to effectively deploy AI tools is an important skill which you’ll develop and which we support in this course.
However, it needs careful balance. Research shows that there is a common illusion of competence which comes from copying
and pasting with an AI in which users imagine themselves to be better than they are and which can hinder real deep learning.
Appropriate use of or access to AI for different tasks#
In the workshops, the vscode editor has a built in chat panel with access to an LLM. This has been pre-prompted to encourage you to make use of the benefits of AI. That is we instruct it to act as a tutor not just give you huge code answers. You can easily circumvent this and use one in the browser but we think this is a bad idea for your long term learning and development.
In week 6 you will have an in-class test. This is controlled conditions and there will be no access to an AI or internet.
In week 9 you will have an oral viva based on your project with two members of staff. You could perhaps use AI to prepare but you will not have access to one during the viva. It is not strictly an issue if the code was generated with the help of an AI but you must understand and be able to explain how it works.
In building your project you can use AI but we encourage you to use it as a support to your learning.