A Snapshot at the Future of Teaching Computer Programming Courses from the Lenses of Artificial Intelligence – A Comparison with Web Design Courses Development

The introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its tools into education has upended many academic programs and led to numerous changes in curriculums. It also led to questioning the viability and the content included in the teaching of some courses. Among the courses that face that question are computer programming courses. The AI tools can generate programming codes based on written instructions by human spoken languages simply and without many complications. With this simplicity of producing programming code, the question asks itself about the feasibility of continuing to teach programming courses with the same methods as before knowing the simplicity of which AI can produce programming code. Some are predicting that teaching programming the traditional methods will be obsolete and that technological advances dictate including AI tools in the teaching of computer programming courses.

This paper discusses the above points of view. It compares the changes that face the teaching of programming courses with similar significant changes that took place in teaching web design courses at the start of this century. At that time similar calls were made to replace the teaching of web design courses. An explanation of both cases of teaching (Programming & web design) will be given to draw parallels between the two. The purpose is to give a snapshot of what teaching programming will look like in the future in terms of using AI tools.