> "Let’s break down what it takes to create just one course – say, an introductory course on core pre-algebra concepts:
- 50+ core concepts to teach
- 20+ problems per concept
- → ~1,000+ individual problems per course
That last number kept us up at night. You can’t just explain a concept once and move on. You need enough variations to let learners truly master each idea, enough edge cases to build real understanding, and enough of a ramp in difficulty to create that perfect learning curve.
Designing the right game and sequence of concepts, so that learning feels like flow, is the fun part. But then you need to make a thousand carefully calibrated problems. And that part is a lot less fun – and it takes a long time."
This seems like a practical and appropriate use of LLMs. It reminds me of a similar application I heard about recently from a friend who teaches language classes using ChatGPT or equivalent to generate dozens of example sentences to teach specific grammar rules.
I find it refreshingly limited in scope compared to many projects that aim to outsource the creative process altogether rather than focusing on automating the legitimately menial and repetitive tasks.
> "Let’s break down what it takes to create just one course – say, an introductory course on core pre-algebra concepts:
- 50+ core concepts to teach - 20+ problems per concept - → ~1,000+ individual problems per course
That last number kept us up at night. You can’t just explain a concept once and move on. You need enough variations to let learners truly master each idea, enough edge cases to build real understanding, and enough of a ramp in difficulty to create that perfect learning curve.
Designing the right game and sequence of concepts, so that learning feels like flow, is the fun part. But then you need to make a thousand carefully calibrated problems. And that part is a lot less fun – and it takes a long time."
This seems like a practical and appropriate use of LLMs. It reminds me of a similar application I heard about recently from a friend who teaches language classes using ChatGPT or equivalent to generate dozens of example sentences to teach specific grammar rules.
I find it refreshingly limited in scope compared to many projects that aim to outsource the creative process altogether rather than focusing on automating the legitimately menial and repetitive tasks.