Nextech recommends the CodeAI course, “Computing Foundations for a Digital Age: Indiana,” a course specially created for the state of Indiana. CFDA (Computing Foundations for a Digital Age) is Indiana’s version of the AI Foundations (AIF) course. The Indiana version of this course is only one semester of the CodeAI’s full year course, otherwise they are the same course with different names. Resources labeled AIF on CodeAI are fully applicable to CFDA. It is accessible to beginners with no prior programming knowledge, and it also provides opportunities for students with some background in computing to deepen their understanding of key topics.
Computing Foundations for a Digital Age: Indiana (AIF) introduces students to the core principles of computer science and the growing role of artificial intelligence in everyday life. Through hands-on programming, visual problem solving, and critical analysis, students explore how computing systems work, how data powers AI, and how intelligent tools make decisions. They learn to write Python programs, analyze the structure of the Internet, investigate cybersecurity risks, and interpret data through visualizations and models. Throughout the course, students examine how AI systems impact individuals and communities, and build the skills to use computing and AI to solve meaningful problems in their world.
CFDA: Indiana (AIF) is designed for high school students at any level of computer science experience. It is accessible to beginners with no prior programming knowledge, and it also provides opportunities for students with some background in computing to deepen their understanding of key topics.
In Indiana, this course maps to 4565: Computing Foundations for a Digital Age which is a high-school course that can be offered in middle school. To learn more, see the NLPS website here.
Nextech and CodeAI have prepared everything you need to be successful teaching this course — from pacing guides, standard alignments, lesson plans, materials list, and wrap-around supports for the inevitable “survival mode” of teaching content for the first time.
To learn more about PD that we offer for this course, please reach out to us at teachers@nextech.org or see more here: https://nextech.org/pd/computing-foundations/
The first document dives into the CodeAI course, “Computing Foundations for a Digital Age: Indiana,” a course specially created for the state of Indiana. CFDA (Computing Foundations for a Digital Age) is Indiana’s version of the AI Foundations (AIF) course – they are the same course with different names. Resources labeled AIF on CodeAI are fully applicable to CFDA. It is accessible to beginners with no prior programming knowledge, and it also provides opportunities for students with some background in computing to deepen their understanding of key topics.
Start with this document first, it includes the following:
The second document is a mapping of all the NLPS 4565 Competencies (July 2026) to the CodeAI CFDA: Indiana (2026-27) course lessons.
In addition to the collection of course resources that have been created (or modified) by Nextech to support your teaching and learning, we also want to highlight the following resources and links:
If there is something that you need, reach out to us at teachers@nextech.org; we’d love to explore creating it since if you need, there are likely other teachers that need it as well.
There are both self-paced and live professional development options available. For live professional development, learn more at https://nextech.org/pd/computing-foundations/.