The Test Set by Posit Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel: Teaching in the AI era — and keeping students engaged
Aug 11, 2025
Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel, a data science educator at Duke University and Posit, shares her compelling journey from actuarial science to the classroom. She discusses her innovative teaching philosophy, the 'whole game' approach that keeps students engaged. The conversation dives into her use of AI, specifically LLMs, for instant feedback on assignments. Mine also addresses the importance of manual coding skills in the age of AI and reflects on the unique relationship between the R and Python communities in fostering collaboration and open-source learning.
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Early Data Quality And Reproducibility
- As an actuary she used an in-house tool to check data quality and moved reports into Excel to automate calculations.
- That early focus on reproducibility later shaped her approach to teaching and tooling.
Teach The Whole Workflow First
- The "whole game" teaches a simplified end-to-end workflow first, then iteratively deepens skills.
- This motivates learners by giving a complete, meaningful experience early on.
Use GitHub For Student Submissions
- Require students to submit assignments as GitHub repositories to build practical version-control skills.
- This also eases course management and gives students portfolio-ready artifacts for internships.
