- Welcome to AI HackStack!
- Step 1: Create Your Class
- Step 2: Add Your Students
- Step 3: Explore the Curriculum
- Ready, Set, Prompt!
- Resources to Enhance Your School Year
Welcome to AI HackStack!
AI HackStack is an educational AI platform that uses real-world AI tools to teach AI literacy to students of all ages, across a range of subject areas. With our unique approach, students embrace learning as they play and prompt from the very start of their adventure, promoting active learning and a growth mindset. Our mission is to engage all students, regardless of AI experience, and help them discover the usefulness of these tools in any discipline of their choosing.
Use this Getting Started Guide to get started with AI HackStack! If you need support or have any questions, please contact support@codecombat.com for assistance.
Step 1: Create Your Class
Log into your CodeCombat educator account and navigate to the Teacher Dashboard. Under the "My Classes" tab, select "Add a New Class".
Select “AI HackStack” in the pop-up that appears. Then, click “Create Class”:
Your new class can now be found in the "My Classes" tab of the Teacher Dashboard.
Step 2: Add Your Students
AI HackStack offers several ways to add students to a class, including seamless integration with Google Classroom and the option for students to sign-up without needing email addresses.
Students can use the following options to join your class:
- Option 1: Students Join via Class Code
- Option 2: Students Join via Class URL
- Option 3: Students Join via Invite by Email
- Option 4: Students Join via Classroom Integrations
Option 1: Students Join via Class Code
Your Class Code is a unique, three-word code that is automatically generated for each class you create. It can be found in the Teacher Dashboard, under the "My Classes" tab.
Share your Class Code with your students and direct them to click the "I’m a Student" button found on the CodeCombat homepage. Here your students will need to enter your Class Code to create an account and join your class. When entering your Class Code, students should see the correct class name and teacher on the screen. Students will then need to enter the following information to finish creating their accounts:
- First Name
- Last Initial
- Username
- Password
Email addresses are not required for students creating an account using a valid Class Code.
Option 2: Students Join via Class URL
Your Class URL is a sharable link your students can use to create an account and join your class. It can be found in the Teacher Dashboard, under the "My Classes" tab, by clicking the "Add Students" button to the right of your class name.
When students visit your Class URL, they should see the correct class name and teacher on the screen. Students will then need to enter the following information to finish creating their accounts:
- First Name
- Last Initial
- Username
- Password
Email addresses are not required for students creating an account using a valid Class URL.
Option 3: Students Join via Invite by Email
Using the Invite by Email option will send your students an email instructing them on how to join your class by visiting the Class URL noted in the email. This option can be found in the Teacher Dashboard, under the "My Classes" tab, by clicking the "Add Students" button to the right of the class name, and then selecting "Invite by Email". Enter your students’ email addresses separated by line breaks or commas (or copy and paste from a class list), confirm you're not a robot, and click Done.
When students visit the Class URL received in the email, they should see the correct class name and teacher on the screen. Students will then need to enter the following information to finish creating their accounts:
- First Name
- Last Initial
- Username
- Password
Option 4: Students Join via Classroom Integration
Google Classroom
Using the Sign in with Google option will allow you to sync your Google Classroom with AI HackStack and automatically roster your students into an AI HackStack classroom. This allows your students to skip the account creation process and log in using the Sign in with Google option.
To link your Google Classroom with AI HackStack, you must log in to your teacher account using the "Sign in with Google" option. In the Teacher Dashboard, under the My Classes tab, click the "Add New Class" button from the menu, and then click the "Link Google Classroom" button in the window. Select your Google Classroom from the drop-down list, choose "AI HackStack" as the course, and click Next to complete the class syncing process. Students who have been synced to a class in AI HackStack can now log in using the "Sign in with Google" option.
Please note the following when syncing a Google Classroom with AI HackStack:
- Google Classrooms can only be synced once. To add additional students to a class after syncing, share your Class Code or Class URL with your students.
- You can not change the programming language of a classroom after it has been synced.
Clever
Clever functionality is limited to single sign-on only. To use Clever, click the "Sign Up with Clever" button, log in through the Clever portal, and in the Clever Authorize App page, select your class page(s), and then click Allow and Continue to proceed. Your students can then use the "Sign Up with Clever" option to log in to AI HackStack.
However, students will still be required to enter a Class Code to join your class after logging in. See Option 1: Students Join via Class Code for more information on using Class Codes.
Step 3: Explore the Curriculum
All AI HackStack courses have curriculum that you can use to teach your class. You can find the lessons in the "Curriculum" tab in the Teacher Dashboard:
When you click on this tab, you will be able to view the curriculum for all of our platforms, not just AI HackStack. When you're ready to explore AI HackStack curriculum, click on "AI HackStack" in the dropdown menu. This will open the Curriculum Guide for AI HackStack:
To see the lessons, click on the "Curriculum" button or the "Lesson Slides" button. Here is an example of what you will see in CodeCombat's curriculum:
Pro tip: pay attention to the speaker notes of the lesson slides! These speaker notes tell you what levels in the AI HackStack game correspond to the lesson you're viewing. You will also find resources, like worksheets, linked in the speaker notes of the AI HackStack lesson slides.
Lesson Structure:
You do not have to be a Computer Science teacher to use AI HackStack with your students! In fact, we encourage teachers from all subject areas to explore the curriculum found here. As you can see, there are lessons for everyone! Additionally, all of this curriculum was based on our AI Literacy Framework, which was designed after the standards found in AI4K12, CSTA, and the Canadian Framework for Computer Science.
The curriculum includes both an “AI Explorations” and “Classroom” version of the curriculum. The “AI Explorations” curriculum does not assume you teach a specific subject; instead, it borrows lessons from across content areas to help students develop their AI literacy skills. The “AI Explorations” curriculum also focuses more on creating with AI, while the classroom curriculum spends more time engaging students in discussions on safety and ethics. Please review the content seen in both versions of the curriculum in order to find the best fit for your students.
If you are using the classroom curriculum, we think it is best that you complete the lessons found in the Intro to AI course first. Here, students will begin to develop important AI literacy skills before jumping into subject-specific AI projects. Subject-specific lessons are found in different AI HackStack courses, and increase in difficulty as you progress through the lessons. No matter the difficulty, all HackStack lessons use the following structure to help students learn how to use AI:
1. Learn - learn how to use a specific AI tool
2. Remix - build upon the example project.
3. Create - make something cool from scratch.
We strongly encourage you to review the classroom lesson plans across subject areas because we embed unique activities on safety and ethics within them – it’s possible that you will find an activity outside of your content area that you want to teach! Speaking of safety, we hope you consider reviewing CodeCombat’s views on safety and privacy too.
We are constantly adding new lessons to the classroom curriculum, so please make sure you review the Curriculum Guide often.
Ready, Set, Prompt!
You're all set to learn about the power of AI! All students are automatically granted access to the first module, Introduction to AI, for free. This first course introduces students to the basics of prompting as well as introducing important AI literacy topics, like personal safety and ethics. There is no limit to the number of students who can join your class and try the first course for free.
As students begin their AI journey, monitoring their progress is quick and easy. In the Teacher Dashboard, under "My Classes", select the class you wish to monitor. On the class page, you will see the progress of each student in that class. Here you will also find the Progress Color Key listed above your students' progress. Clicking a student's progress bubble will allow you to view their solution and compare it directly with the suggested solution.
Notice that there are red boxes around a student’s work? These are moderation flags; they tell you if your student has made an inappropriate request. You can learn more about the request by clicking on the flagged circle.
You can also view the entirety of the student’s project by clicking on the “Open Project” button, which is found after the list of Safety Violations.
Resources to Enhance Your School Year
Teacher Toolkit
Looking for additional resources? You can find pacing guides, learning strategies, how-to articles, and more, all under the "Teacher Tools" tab in the Teacher Dashboard:
Student Licenses
Student licenses are required to access all of our courses in AI HackStack(AI 1, AI 2, Career Readiness 1, Career Readiness 2, Algebra + AI, Cybersecurity + AI, AI Explorations.). You can request licenses for your students in the Teacher Dashboard under the "My Licenses" tab:
We work with all types of schools, districts, clubs, and programs and customize pricing based on your use case!
Professional Development
Our Professional Development course is endorsed by the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) and built to empower all teachers with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to effectively teach computer science. Earn 6 credits of graduate-level coursework while developing your teaching practices and improving the learning experience for your students. To learn more, view our Professional Development page.
Other CodeCombat Platforms
Are you looking to get started with another CodeCombat platform, like Ozaria or CodeCombat Junior? Take a look at one of our other Getting Started Guides:
- CodeCombat Getting Started Guide
- Ozaria Getting Started Guide
- CodeCombat Junior Getting Started Guide
- AI League Getting Started Guide
- AP Computer Science Principles Getting Started Guide
- Python Certification Exam Getting Started Guide