Introduction

Interactive learning with AI can significantly enhance the educational experience for software engineers.

AI allows for a personalized education experience, it can adapt to your pace and style, providing immediate feedback and support as you learn new concepts. This lesson will explore how to use prompting to engage with AI in a way that promotes active learning and retention.

Principles of Interactive Learning Prompts

When creating prompts for interactive learning, consider the following:

• Ask Open-Ended Questions: Encourage the AI to provide explanations and further questions.

• Challenge Yourself: Use prompts that push you to apply what you’ve learned in new ways.

• Seek Examples: Ask the AI to provide examples that illustrate complex concepts. For example, to explain complex algorithms or data structures effectively, you can use the following strategies:

• Be Specific: Clearly identify the algorithm or data structure you want to learn about. For example, “Can you explain how the QuickSort algorithm works?”

• Request Step-by-Step Breakdown: Ask the AI to break down the explanation into steps or stages. For instance, “Please provide a step-by-step explanation of the merge process in MergeSort.”

• Ask for Examples: Request examples to illustrate the concept. You might say, “Can you show me an example of a binary search tree balancing?”

• Use Visual Aids: If you’re a visual learner, ask the AI to describe the algorithm or data structure visually. For example, “Describe how a graph is represented in memory with a visual diagram.”

• Inquire About Use Cases: Understanding when to use a particular algorithm or data structure can be helpful. Try prompting with, “In what scenarios would I use a heap instead of a binary search tree?”

• Clarify Complexity: To understand the efficiency, you could ask, “What is the time complexity of the Dijkstra’s algorithm?”

• Seek Comparisons: Comparing similar concepts can aid understanding. Consider asking, “How does insertion sort differ from bubble sort in terms of performance?”

• Request Pseudocode: Sometimes seeing the logic in pseudocode can make it clearer. You might prompt with, “Can you provide the pseudocode for implementing a trie?”

• Encourage Teaching: Frame your prompt as if you’re asking the AI to teach you, like “Teach me how dynamic programming can be used to solve the knapsack problem.”

• Probe for Limitations: It’s also important to know the limitations, so you could ask, “What are the limitations of using a hash table for data storage?” ChatGPT publicly released its GPT store, in which there are many GPTs that have the ability to visualize content.

Activity: Learning Through Prompting

Select a programming topic you’re unfamiliar with. Create a series of prompts that guide the AI in teaching you the topic step-by-step.

For more accuracy, use a programming-related GPT from the GPT store, and give it context from a relevant website. Reflect on how the interaction enhances your understanding.