Generative AI: Programming with LLMs

Alps is an AI-powered learning platform designed for computer science education. This Generative AI course is delivered entirely through Alps—students access interactive lessons, write code, and build AI applications directly in their browser. As an educator, you assign chapters, track progress in real-time, and let Alps handle the grading automatically.

The course includes detailed lesson plans and ideas for teachers to engage students in discussions during the course. If you have been teaching Python for a few years, you should be able to teach this course with minimal training. If you would like to get additional professional development, we offer training videos, email support, and office hours for a nominal fee. Please contact us for more information.

No setup is required. Alps provides a built-in, Jupyter-compatible interactive Python notebook that runs entirely in the browser. Students can code on any device, including Chromebooks. The only requirement is an OpenAI API key for students to interact with LLMs—everything else is already configured and ready to use.

An OpenAI API key allows students to send requests to OpenAI's language models (like GPT) from their code. We recommend that educators provide students with a school-issued API key rather than having them create their own accounts. We enable server side keys for your institution in our Premium Tier. See this page for differences between the tiers.

Yes! Alps integrates with all major Learning Management Systems via LTI 1.3, including Canvas, Blackboard, Schoology, Moodle, and Brightspace. This enables single sign-on for students, automatic roster sync, and grade passback directly to your gradebook. You can also use Google Classroom integration or simply share a join link with your students.

You have several options: (1) Share a join link that students click to enroll, (2) Sync rosters automatically through your LMS via LTI integration, (3) Import from Google Classroom, or (4) Bulk upload via CSV. Most educators find the join link or LMS integration the easiest approach.

Students build real, working AI applications including interactive chatbots with custom personalities, text summarizers, sentiment analyzers, language translators, and content generators. Alps provides a built-in framework for creating graphical, interactive applications—students can build chatbots without needing to learn web development.

Students should have completed an introductory Python course covering variables, functions, lists, dictionaries, and basic control structures. No prior AI, machine learning, or web development experience is needed—the course teaches everything from the ground up.