Part 2, Faculty perspectives | Limed: Teaching with a Twist – Season 3, Episode 8

Last month, we talked with student guests about artificial intelligence use in their computer science education. This month, we continue the conversation with Robert Duvall (Duke University) and Nisha Talagala (AIClub and AIClubPro) who share professional and faculty wisdom about AI in the classroom and eventually the workplace. Robert and Nisha wrestle with the tension between product and process and share some ways that incorporating AI into even the introductory computer science curriculum will be essential in preparing future developers. We wrap with our guest, Ryan Mattfeld, Associate Professor of Computer Science at Elon University, to continue exploring how an unrestricted AI course could shift goals and outcomes for student learning. 

View a transcript of this episode.

About Our Guest

Ryan Mattfeld is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Elon University in Elon, North Carolina. While mentoring undergraduate research projects at Elon, he serves as a faculty member teaching a range of computer science courses, including introductory courses, computer organization and architecture, internet of things, and cybersecurity. His research focuses on leveraging sensors for novel applications such as applying LiDAR for autonomous fire detection, respiratory monitoring, and assistive navigation for people with visual impairments. Additionally, he investigates educational methods to enhance student learning, encourage a sense of belonging in computer science, and improve assessment strategies. He has published several peer-reviewed publications on these topics. 

Meet Our Panel

Robert C. Duvall is a member of the Computer Science Education Group at Duke University.  Robert teaches upper-level courses that focus on developing projects in teams using the Agile methodology. Students learn the importance of well-designed code, dealing with changing requirements, providing value to users, ethical concerns around software development, and maintaining mental well-being.  He is also working to effectively integrate LLMs into the student’s software development process, helping students understand when and how to use AI, as well as how to evaluate the results and when to trust their own skills.Robert has also been working with introductory Computer Science curricula for the past 35 years, adapting many different pedagogies, integrating research efforts, and creating online content. You can learn more about Robert at his website and on his LinkedIn profile. 

Nisha Talagala is the CEO and founder of AIClub and AIClubPro, bringing AI Literacy to students and professionals worldwide. Nisha has significant experience in introducing technologies like Artificial Intelligence to new learners from students to professionals.  Previously, Nisha co-founded ParallelM which pioneered the MLOps practice of managing Machine Learning in production for enterprises – acquired by DataRobot. Nisha is a recognized leader in the operational machine learning space, having also driven the USENIX Operational ML Conference, the first industry/academic conference on production AI/ML. Nisha was previously a Fellow at SanDisk and Fellow/Lead Architect at Fusion-io, where she worked on innovation in non-volatile memory technologies and applications. Nisha has more than 20 years of expertise in enterprise software development, distributed systems, technical strategy and product leadership. She has worked as technology lead for server flash at Intel – where she led server platform non-volatile memory technology development, storage-memory convergence, and partnerships. Before Intel, Nisha was the CTO of Gear6, designing and building clustered computing caches for high performance I/O environments.  Nisha Talagala is also the pillar lead for Skills Development for the Sri Lanka National AI Strategy 2024-2028 (as part of the Committee on Formulating a Strategy for Artificial Intelligence – CFSAI), as well as a key contributor to UNESCO’s AI Competency Framework for School Students. Nisha earned her PhD at UC Berkeley where she did research on clusters and distributed systems. Nisha holds 75 patents in distributed systems and software, over 25 refereed research publications, is a frequent speaker at industry and academic events, and is a contributing writer to Forbes and other publications.  

Episode Credits

This episode was hosted and edited by Matt Wittstein and produced by Olivia Taylor in collaboration with the Elon University Center for Engaged Learning. 

Resources Related to this Episode

AI as Friend or Foe in Computer Science

Part 1, Student Perspectives | Limed: Teaching with a Twist – Season 3, Episode 7 The use of artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT has become the topic of serious discussion in higher education. Ryan Mattfeld, associate professor of computer science at…

“Advanced AI Training, Expert Upskilling, Career-Focused AI Learning Paths.” 2025. AIClubPro. Accessed April 14, 2025. https://www.aiclubpro.world/.  

“AI for Kids, Coding, IOT, Apps for Kids.” n.d. AIClub. Accessed April 14, 2025. https://corp.aiclub.world/.  

Mollick, Ethan. 2023, July 1. “The Homework Apocalypse.” https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/the-homework-apocalypse.  

Porter, Leo, Daniel Zingaro, and Beth Simon. 2024. Learn AI-assisted python programming: With github copilot and chatgpt. Shelter Island, NY: Manning Publications.  

Talagala, Nisha. 2023, October 4. “How CHATGPT Is Changing Education – Guidance from UNESCO and OpenAI.” Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/nishatalagala/2023/09/29/how-chatgpt-is-changing-educationguidance-from-unesco-and-openai/.