Abstract:

Teachers struggle to teach programming and students struggle to learn programming. The volume of literature about the best way to teach programming is dispersed over many years and is testament to the challenges of teaching and learning programming. The anecdotal evidence from the authors’ experiences further reinforces that programming isn’t easy to learn and teach. The present paper emerges from the experiences and interests of the two authors: The first author’s experiences as a design student learning programming and his interests in learning more effectively and in supporting his classmates to do the same, especially in programming classes; and the second author’s experiences in teaching, and her interest in student-centred pedagogies and the co-design of learning experiences.

Though research on how to best teach programming may include the student perspective, the research processes mostly driven by instructors and educators the authentic voice of the student is not often heard. The discourse in higher education learning and teaching is dominated by the philosophy of student-centred approaches. Despite these worthy sentiments, the voice that matters most, that of the students, is often missing (Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy, 2019).

Formal research in learning and teaching programming is undoubtedly necessary to inform teaching practices. Borrowing from principles of design thinking which pivots on empathetic understanding, then hearing the student perspective from students as heard by a peer will enrich discussion and potentially invoke deeper reflection on the part of educators and learners alike and can help address the gap between student and teacher expectations. When teachers prepare for one kind of learning experience, while students desire another, the discontinuity can lead to student disengagement, demotivation and decreased self-efficacy, and expectations may be not well communicated in constructive ways (Zimmerman, Schmidt, Peterson, Nyland & Surdick, 2014).

Peer-peer conversations are authentic and genuine. In the absence of the power difference found between teacher and student, and occurring within a frame of shared experiences, peer-peer conversations are more likely genuine. Following the principles of conversational learning (Laurillard, 1993; Pask, 1975) peer-peer learning conversations are an opportunity for reflection on their learning processes and experiences. Through the process of social interaction, the process can help students articulate and communicate their expectations in constructive ways. Furthermore, peer-peer conversations about their learning experiences are likely to be holistic, capturing cognitive and the so often under-emphasized, emotional elements of the learning experience.

The authors report on student peer to peer conversations about learning and teaching programming. The conversations were initiated and conducted by the first author – a design student studying programming. The conversations exposed students’ experiences of learning programming and their views about ‘what works’ and what doesn’t. The insights from the conversations, when juxtaposed against literature provide a platform for deeper discussion around learning and teaching. The richness of insights on both cognitive and emotional dimensions of learning are valuable for informing the design of genuinely student-centred and student-empowering approaches to teaching programming to non-programmers.

Keywords:

Teaching programming, peer-peer conversation, conversational learning, participatory approaches, design thinking, student perspectives, learning and teaching.