Comment by smj-edison
4 hours ago
I looked to see if BYU had made the source code available, but it doesn't look like they've published it. It's called code recorder, and before we do an assignment we have to enable recording. It generates a .json file that lists every single edit made in terms of a textual diff. They must have some sort of tool that reconstructs it when they grade. Sorry I don't know more!
Edit: I expect it wouldn't be super hard to create though, you'd just have to hook into the editor's change event, probably compute the diff to make sure you don't lose anything, and then append it to the end of the json.
Very interesting, thanks for the insight into modern uni. It’s been a long time since I was there and struggle to imagine what it must be like now.
It does seem like they’re going the wrong way, repelling tech to keep things easy instead of embracing new tech by updating their teaching methods.
But I also think we’ve collectively fallen flat in figuring out what those methods are.
I think it's fair for the projects, since when you first write code you're learning to think like a computer. Their AI policy is it's fine to ask it questions and have it explain concepts, but the project assignments need to be done without AI.
The one requirement I think is dumb though is we're not allowed to use the language's documentation for the final project, which makes no sense. Especially since my python is rusty.
Since you mentioned failure to figure out what better teaching methods are, I feel it's my sworn duty to put a plug for https://dynamicland.org and https://folk.computer, if you haven't heard about them :)