Computer Says No: Reducing Technical Barriers to Help Novice Programmers

Chris Cooling; David Cutting; Ozan Evkaya; Lucia Michielin; Sam Skipsey; Lizzie Wadsworth

doi:10.2218/ED.9781836450795

Computer Says No: Reducing Technical Barriers to Help Novice Programmers

Authors

Chris Cooling

Early Career Researcher Institute, Imperial College London

David Cutting

School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Queen’s University Belfast

Ozan Evkaya

School of Mathematics, University of Edinburgh

Lucia Michielin

Edinburgh Futures Institute, University of Edinburgh

Sam Skipsey

School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow

Lizzie Wadsworth

Department of Applied and Human Sciences, Kingston University

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2218/ED.9781836450795.14

Synopsis

Learning to code for the first time is fraught with challenges ranging from the technical, cultural, and practical. As an educator, how do you help your students when “the computer says no”? This chapter covers implementable steps for reducing barriers in programming courses, to ensure students don’t lose motivation to learn programming when faced with such issues, while ensuring instructors are not overworked.

This chapter is for you if you teach novice programmers and want to reduce friction in getting set up and working through the programming curriculum. With clear suggestions and a summary of pros and cons, it will allow you to pick the best setup for your own course!