> Source URL: /CCSCNE/paper-presentation.slides
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title: Toward True Differentiated Instruction with PathMX and Curriculum as Code
abstract: "Students enter CS1 courses with widely varying programming experience, mathematical maturity, and learning preferences. We propose a framework called PathMX that addresses this challenge through a ``curriculum as code'' methodology that treats curriculum materials as structured, version-controlled repositories editable by both instructors and LLM-based coding agents. When curriculum is authored as code following clear conventions, agents can generate personalized content on demand, enabling scalable differentiated instruction that was previously impractical. Our CS1 case study demonstrates that this approach makes true differentiated instruction achievable within the constraints of real classroom teaching."
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# Toward True Differentiated Instruction with PathMX and Curriculum as Code

**Mark Johnson** and **Chris Alvin**

Department of Computer Science, Furman University

CCSCNE 2026

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# The Problem

CS1 students arrive with vastly different backgrounds:

- **41%** no prior programming experience
- **47%** less than one year
- **12%** one to three years

True differentiated instruction requires personalized guides, project variants, individualized feedback, and adapted examples for every student.

**This is unsustainable.** Manually creating a single personalized artifact takes 30-60 minutes. We make compromises, and some students don't get what they need.

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# PathMX: Curriculum as Code

Three conventions that make curriculum agent-friendly:

1. **Markdown-first**: human-readable, version-controlled, AI-native
2. **Type-hinted files**: roles encoded in filenames
   - `week-1.slides.md`, `lab-3.spec.md`, `student-A.persona.md`
3. **Hyperlinked paths**: links create a knowledge graph agents and humans can navigate

**The key insight:** when curriculum follows these conventions, LLM agents can generate personalized content on demand in minutes, not hours, while instructors retain full control.

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# Demo

- Repository structure and file conventions
- Generating a personalized learning guide from a student persona
- Themed project variant generation
- The PathMX player and web rendering

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# Early Results and Takeaways

Student perceptions (n = 17, 5-point scale):

| Measure                             | Mean     |
| ----------------------------------- | -------- |
| Project choice increased motivation | **4.47** |
| Feedback specific and helpful       | **4.35** |
| Guides helped when struggling       | **4.24** |
| Materials relevant to interests     | **4.00** |

Under 5 minutes of agent interaction + instructor review replaced 30-60 minutes of manual authoring per artifact.

**Start small, build style guides early, keep student data anonymized.**

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# Thank You

**Mark Johnson**: mark@fellowhumans.com
**Chris Alvin**: chris.alvin@furman.edu

Visit\* [PathMX.dev](https://pathmx.dev) for more information.

\* or ask your agent to do it for you :)


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## Backlinks

The following sources link to this document:

- [view the slides](/index.path.llm.md)