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An Analysis of Introductory Programming Courses at UK Universities

Ellen Murphy, Tom Crick Orcid Logo, James H. Davenport

The Art, Science, and Engineering of Programming, Volume: 1, Issue: 2

Swansea University Author: Tom Crick Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.22152/programming-journal.org/2017/1/18

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Context: In the context of exploring the art, science and engineering of programming, the question of which programming languages should be taught first has been fiercely debated since computer science teaching started in universities. Failure to grasp programming readily almost certainly implies fa...

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Published in: The Art, Science, and Engineering of Programming
ISSN: 2473-7321
Published: AOSA 2017
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa43520
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spelling 2022-12-18T17:39:31.9989259 v2 43520 2018-08-18 An Analysis of Introductory Programming Courses at UK Universities 200c66ef0fc55391f736f6e926fb4b99 0000-0001-5196-9389 Tom Crick Tom Crick true false 2018-08-18 EDUC Context: In the context of exploring the art, science and engineering of programming, the question of which programming languages should be taught first has been fiercely debated since computer science teaching started in universities. Failure to grasp programming readily almost certainly implies failure to progress in computer science.Inquiry: What first programming languages are being taught? There have been regular national-scale surveys in Australia and New Zealand, with the only US survey reporting on a small subset of universities. This the first such national survey of universities in the UK.Approach: We report the results of the first survey of introductory programming courses (N=80) taught at UK universities as part of their first year computer science (or related) degree programmes, conducted in the first half of 2016. We report on student numbers, programming paradigm, programming languages and environment/tools used, as well as the underpinning rationale for these choices.Knowledge: The results in this first UK survey indicate a dominance of Java at a time when universities are still generally teaching students who are new to programming (and computer science), despite the fact that Python is perceived, by the same respondents, to be both easier to teach as well as to learn.Grounding: We compare the results of this survey with a related survey conducted since 2010 (as well as earlier surveys from 2001 and 2003) in Australia and New Zealand.Importance: This survey provides a starting point for valuable pedagogic baseline data for the analysis of the art, science and engineering of programming, in the context of substantial computer science curriculum reform in UK schools, as well as increasing scrutiny of teaching excellence and graduate employability for UK universities. Journal Article The Art, Science, and Engineering of Programming 1 2 AOSA 2473-7321 introductory programming, programming pedagogy, programming environments, programming education, computer science education 1 4 2017 2017-04-01 10.22152/programming-journal.org/2017/1/18 http://programming-journal.org/2017/1/18/ COLLEGE NANME Education COLLEGE CODE EDUC Swansea University 2022-12-18T17:39:31.9989259 2018-08-18T15:24:21.3510308 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies Ellen Murphy 1 Tom Crick 0000-0001-5196-9389 2 James H. Davenport 3 0043520-27082018105903.pdf 1609.06622v2.pdf 2018-08-27T10:59:03.9270000 Output 490010 application/pdf Version of Record true 2018-08-27T00:00:00.0000000 Released under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution license (CC-BY). true eng
title An Analysis of Introductory Programming Courses at UK Universities
spellingShingle An Analysis of Introductory Programming Courses at UK Universities
Tom Crick
title_short An Analysis of Introductory Programming Courses at UK Universities
title_full An Analysis of Introductory Programming Courses at UK Universities
title_fullStr An Analysis of Introductory Programming Courses at UK Universities
title_full_unstemmed An Analysis of Introductory Programming Courses at UK Universities
title_sort An Analysis of Introductory Programming Courses at UK Universities
author_id_str_mv 200c66ef0fc55391f736f6e926fb4b99
author_id_fullname_str_mv 200c66ef0fc55391f736f6e926fb4b99_***_Tom Crick
author Tom Crick
author2 Ellen Murphy
Tom Crick
James H. Davenport
format Journal article
container_title The Art, Science, and Engineering of Programming
container_volume 1
container_issue 2
publishDate 2017
institution Swansea University
issn 2473-7321
doi_str_mv 10.22152/programming-journal.org/2017/1/18
publisher AOSA
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies
url http://programming-journal.org/2017/1/18/
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description Context: In the context of exploring the art, science and engineering of programming, the question of which programming languages should be taught first has been fiercely debated since computer science teaching started in universities. Failure to grasp programming readily almost certainly implies failure to progress in computer science.Inquiry: What first programming languages are being taught? There have been regular national-scale surveys in Australia and New Zealand, with the only US survey reporting on a small subset of universities. This the first such national survey of universities in the UK.Approach: We report the results of the first survey of introductory programming courses (N=80) taught at UK universities as part of their first year computer science (or related) degree programmes, conducted in the first half of 2016. We report on student numbers, programming paradigm, programming languages and environment/tools used, as well as the underpinning rationale for these choices.Knowledge: The results in this first UK survey indicate a dominance of Java at a time when universities are still generally teaching students who are new to programming (and computer science), despite the fact that Python is perceived, by the same respondents, to be both easier to teach as well as to learn.Grounding: We compare the results of this survey with a related survey conducted since 2010 (as well as earlier surveys from 2001 and 2003) in Australia and New Zealand.Importance: This survey provides a starting point for valuable pedagogic baseline data for the analysis of the art, science and engineering of programming, in the context of substantial computer science curriculum reform in UK schools, as well as increasing scrutiny of teaching excellence and graduate employability for UK universities.
published_date 2017-04-01T03:54:44Z
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