Programming to Learn LLMs Workshop - May 30, Lugano
by Matthias Hauswirth
Dear all,
In our last newsletter, we mentioned that we are organizing a workshop on a concrete way to teach students to program their own LLM (from scratch) in Python. We surveyed you about your potential interest and availability. Thanks to everyone who responded and commented!
Now we’re ready for you to register!
**Abstract**: Many students are constantly using ChatGPT & Co. – but do they know how those “magical” products actually work? We built a short sequence of surprisingly simple activities you could adopt in your classroom to provide your students with a basic understanding of how a Little Language Model (LLM, ha!) works.
The activities accomplish two goals at once: students get to learn about LLMs, and they get a little bit more programming practice in doing so. The activities don’t require anything but some basic programming in Python, so they’re suitable for the mandatory informatics course. No complex libraries, no neural networks, and yet we experience fundamental ideas such as generative textual models, training & inference, model parameters, bias, ethical and copyright issues with training data, and much more.
**Date and Place**: May 30, 2026 @ USI, East Campus, Lugano.
**Open to**: Informatics teachers at high schools in Switzerland. You’re welcome to forward this invite to your colleagues!
(Important note only for teachers in Ticino: una versione in italiano di questo workshop vi verrà offerta come parte della formazione obbligatoria già pianificata. Vi chiediamo di NON registrarvi tramite il link contenuto in questa newsletter. Riceverete una comunicazione separata dedicata a voi.)
**Cost**: Entirely free for registered participants. Included in the registration are also coffee breaks, lunch, and a 75 CHF voucher for SBB-CFF-FFS to help cover travel costs.
**Language**: Primarily in English, with the possibility of asking questions also in German.
**Event Schedule**: Check the registration site for the complete program of the workshop day.
**Certificate of Attendance**: We’re happy to provide you with a certificate of attendance, should you need it.
**Mandatory Registration**: Register online by April 30, 2026 at https://usi.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0cao1H4mBKiL45E
Looking forward to seeing many of you in Lugano!
Matthias and the LuCE team
PS: You can find this and the previous message in our mailing list archive:
https://lists.usi.ch/mailman3/hyperkitty/list/luce-news@lists.usi.ch/
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