In Spring 2024, I began independently teaching “Introduction to Mathematical Software” (Matlab, R, and Maple). The first session? Definitely stressful! The second session? Still stressful! But I reminded myself that this is a path walked by all teachers throughout history—no one escapes the nerves of teaching, and I was no exception. Over time, though, I found myself becoming more comfortable. “Comfortable” doesn’t mean stress-free; it means learning how to do my best in delivering lectures, while managing my inner anxiety.

One of the biggest challenges of this course was the rapid advancement of AI. With powerful tools able to generate complex code in seconds, it would have been easy for students to rely on AI for their assignments, missing out on genuine learning. To address this, I introduced a presentation component: students were required to create a five-minute video explaining and presenting their work. While AI can write code, it can’t present your understanding—or answer spontaneous questions about your logic! I encouraged students to be creative and thoughtful in how they delivered their content.

The results were fantastic. The presentations were innovative, and it’s rewarding to hear that this approach is still being used by other professors for this course.