IMS piloted a new AI Course this year entitled “IDEA,” which stands for Inquiry, Data, Ethics, and Agency. Using these four pillars, students are challenged to study the evolving relationship between human intelligence and artificial intelligence. Jason Barillaro, the instructor of this course, shared his perspective on the challenges and benefits of teaching a subject that is ever-evolving.

I have taught Latin continuously for three decades and, over the years, arrived sideways at computer science through a long affection for web design, small coding projects, and Arduino boards. Those subjects I teach from mastery. Artificial intelligence I taught via summer reading, experimenting and testing, staying a step ahead some days and, on the best days, learning alongside the students.

That was the risk. Latin is a language whose evolution ended centuries ago. I can teach it from solid ground. AI moves under your feet. A headline or a new model release can upend the plan and upset the syllabus. For an experienced teacher, there is a humility in feeling like a beginner again.

In this project-based class, students studied real technical content: how large language models and machine learning actually work. They built classifiers, designed systems that run on live data, and assembled workflows that inserted AI into solutions for genuine problems. At every step, students reflected, in writing and in discussion. The goal was never simply to teach students to use this technology. It was to teach them to partner with it, with a commitment to transparency, an ear tuned to bias, and a shield held over their own identity and voice.

In the middle of all this were our guests: a venture partner, an early adopter from industry, a visiting professor, and a recent graduate working in this new field. We hosted several presentations and forums that opened the minds of our students to new possibilities with an eye to their own futures. They listened intently, asked deep questions, and were hungry for inspiration.

For an experienced teacher, there is a humility in feeling like a beginner again.​

Jason Barillaro

This all culminated in their final projects, which required them to develop and state their personal “AI manifesto.” Their presentations were filled with statements that reflected their relationship with AI, their respect for its capabilities, and equal measures of excitement and trepidation for the future.

I went looking, all year, for the lesson that would survive the speed of all this, a practical thing a teacher could hold onto while the ground shifted. Here it is, and it is almost reassuringly old-fashioned: The fundamentals are still fundamental. You cannot partner with a powerful intelligence unless you can reason clearly, think creatively, communicate fluently, identify a real problem, and critically question assumptions. Those are the skills we have always taught. They have not been replaced. I offer instead that they have been made more valuable.

Jason Barillaro teaches Latin, AP Computer Science Principles, IDEA, and is the Director of Academic Technology