The Context

Environment
Student Profile
Academic Structure
The place of computer programming in the course
Staff profile
Programming Lecturers

Environment

The University of Gloucestershire became a Higher Education College in 1990 and gained University Title in 2001. It has four campuses in Gloucester and Cheltenham . The Business School is set in the Park Campus at Cheltenham . The campus is very pretty - it is built in a conservation area originally planned as a Victorian ornamental zoo. It has modern and Regency architecture in 30 acres of parkland, with an ornamental lake and resident swans and ducks. Programmes are taught from a variety of subject areas including accounting and financial management, business management, hospitality and events, human resource management, information technology, law, marketing, and tourism. Computing is the only 'scientific' discipline on the campus and is seen as very difficult and of minority interest.
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Student profile In computing, two thirds of our students come from the local and neighbouring areas. They are predominantly white and male. There is a substantial proportion of mature students -
42% over 21 and a quarter over 25. Some of these are changing careers and others study part-time. Over ten per cent of our students study part-time, often sponsored by local employers such as GCHQ. Such students have a range of experience that they bring to the course. To accommodate these, many of the modules are run in the evening as well as during the day.

As in other computing departments, nationally and internationally, numbers are falling (two years ago, the introductory programming module had enrolments of over a hundred and now (2005) we have about sixty). Typically, about four-fifths of our students have little or no programming experience. Students generally have a weak maths background with most students having a grade C at GCSE. It is very unusual for a student to have maths A-level. The motivation for students to study a degree is mainly vocational and few go on to further academic study.

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Academic structure

Computing concentrates on the software development process. It is one of a cluster of undergraduate Information Technology Fields, others being devoted to

•  Multimedia (web-site and other interactive digital systems development with emphasis on design and using tools);

•  Information Technology (concentrating on networking and databases);

•  Business Information Technology (designing Information Systems for businesses) and

•  Internet Systems Development (a mixture of component building; internet technologies, databases and e-business awareness).

Other fields are being developed for 2006 - Games Design and Network Computing. The fields borrow appropriate modules from each other to form their programmes.

The students who take introductory programming have, therefore, different motivations - for some it is the introduction to the core topic of their field, others might just want a taster and have had no programming experience at all.

Multimedia students made a video showing what life is like at the University of Gloucestershire. One of these also took CO102, the programming module. This is his video.

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The Place of Computer Programming in the Course

Currently, the university runs a modular scheme but is gradually changing to more proscribed courses where a sense of identity can be engendered. In the first year, computing students also study modules on architecture, systems analysis, databases, Internet and web site development with options of VB.Net, networking or multimedia. All students take two modules on personal development. Students on other IT courses can choose to take programming as an option. For those with no previous programming experience, it can be a struggle at first - some persevere and some do not.

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Staff Profile

There are about 120 lecturers in the Business School , with 20 or so in the IT fields, teaching on both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Many of the lecturers have practical experience, having worked in the IT industry before joining academia. Given the breadth of the courses offered and the small number of lecturers, staff are quite adaptable in what they teach. As is fairly typical in the HE sector, many of the IT lecturers have decades of experience in teaching computing, have seen many changes and some constants, and are now reaching the end of their careers. There are very few research students, none available to help in the labs, so all the labs are staffed by lecturers.

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Programming Lecturers

Two of us deliver the introductory programming lectures and work in the labs, sometimes supported by other lecturers. Both of us have taught programming for many years and have spent time in industry before entering the university. We have a similar philosophy about programming and approaches to teaching it. We both emphasise strategies for producing code of a high, professional quality. Coincidentally, we both taught on Voluntary Service Overseas. Perhaps we both like challenges! Neither of us are complacent about our teaching skills and we regularly attend workshops organised by the University Centre for Learning and Teaching and have tried different teaching strategies over the years.

My teaching philosophy is outlined in the following document.

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