Teaching

Teaching computer science

I teach students to look at what a system does, consider who it affects, and defend their conclusions. I developed my own version of CSC 3200, Ethics in Computing, and teach it at Louisiana State University. Fall 2026 is my fourth semester teaching the course.

Academic CV (PDF)  ·  Selected teaching portfolio (PDF)

Teaching record

Instructor of record · Louisiana State University

CSC 3200: Ethics in Computing

Spring 2025 · Fall 2025 · Spring 2026 · Fall 2026 (in progress)

One large weekly lecture section each term, reaching approximately 400 students since Spring 2025. The course is required in the Software Engineering and Cybersecurity concentrations and follows Advanced Data Structures and Algorithmic Analysis.

I built the syllabus, slides, Moodle course, discussion forums, quizzes, essay assignment and grading criteria, and online test. Topics include ethical theory, professional codes, intellectual property, privacy, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity.

Teaching assistant · LSU Department of Mathematics

MATH 1552: Analytic Geometry and Calculus II

Fall 2023

Graded course examinations for approximately 50 students.

Inside the ethics course

Move from a case to an argument

I introduce an ethical framework, work through real cases, and ask students to take and defend a position. In a Fall 2025 privacy session, students prepared opposing arguments about government backdoors in encrypted communications. Four forum posts extend this reasoning into individual writing.

Make the assessment criteria visible

The essay asks students to develop a thesis about a computing-ethics issue and support it with at least three credible sources. I grade the essays by hand using five criteria shared with the assignment: content, organization, analysis, writing quality, and adherence to the guidelines.

Use assessment to improve the next version

In Spring 2025, students took a short ethics quiz, created a song on the topic using Suno, and took the quiz again. More than 50 songs were submitted, but the initial scores were already at the ceiling, so the quiz could not establish what students learned from the activity. In Spring 2026 I began rewriting quiz items as scenarios that require students to apply their reasoning. I presented the activity at IEEE ISEC in March 2026, in a virtual session.

Offer another route into the discussion

When a student was failing after missing every forum post, I offered an end-of-term makeup assignment centered on discussion and reflection about course topics that interested them. I extended the same opportunity to every student who had performed poorly on the forums.

Bring research into the classroom

In Spring 2026 I added a privacy case from Hit and Run, my co-authored research on Progressive's Snapshot app. It gives the class a concrete example of what an application records about its users. I plan to add cases from my payment-app, AI-companion, and AI-agent research.

Read the publications

Selected materials and future teaching

The selected portfolio presents my existing teaching practice alongside a newly prepared CS1 lesson and a proposed CS2 assignment. These programming materials are prepared for future teaching and have not been used in a classroom.

Download the teaching portfolio (PDF)

Download the prepared lesson and exercise files (ZIP)

My teaching interests include introductory programming, CS2, data structures, computer security, and digital forensics. CSC 3200 is the course I have taught as instructor of record. My preparation for programming courses comes from computer science coursework and software projects in Java, Python, and C++.

In programming courses, I would combine code tracing, testable specifications, and feedback on students' reasoning and design choices. I would also like to develop Forensics of AI Systems, an elective built around investigating applications and evaluating the evidence they leave behind.

Academic inquiries

I am a Ph.D. student in computer science at LSU, advised by Dr. Ibrahim Baggili, with completion expected in May 2027. For teaching and academic inquiries, contact tspino2@lsu.edu.