Cargando…

Simplifying Programming for Non-technical Students: A Hermeneutic Approach

This paper investigates the simplification of programming for non-technical university students. Typical simplification strategies are outlined, and according to our findings CT courses for non-technical students typically address learners from different faculties, providing generic and basic knowle...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Valente, Andrea, Marchetti, Emanuela
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8761527/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35068698
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13218-021-00748-0
_version_ 1784633547376558080
author Valente, Andrea
Marchetti, Emanuela
author_facet Valente, Andrea
Marchetti, Emanuela
author_sort Valente, Andrea
collection PubMed
description This paper investigates the simplification of programming for non-technical university students. Typical simplification strategies are outlined, and according to our findings CT courses for non-technical students typically address learners from different faculties, providing generic and basic knowledge, not specifically related to their major. In this study, we propose instead a hermeneutic approach to simplify programming, in which we aim at clarifying the problem-solving aspect of programming, addressing computational problems that are specific to their studies and leveraging on learners’ preunderstanding of the digital media they have experienced as users. The practical counterpart of our theoretical approach is a minimalistic Python multimedia library, called Medialib, that we designed to enable university students with a non-technical profile to create visual media and games with short and readable code. We discuss the use of Medialib in two empirical case studies: a collaboration with the university of Kyushu in Fukuoka, Japan, and a coding module for Media Studies students at the University of Southern Denmark. Furthermore, we use Notional Machines to attempt a comparison of the simplicity of learning tools for programming, and to ground our claim that Medialib is “simpler” for learners than other popular approaches. The main contribution is a hermeneutic approach to the simplification of programming for specific contexts that combines the hermeneutic spiral and notional machines. The approach is supported by a tool, the Medialib library; the two case studies provide examples of how the approach and tool can be deployed in beginners in CT courses.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8761527
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher Springer Berlin Heidelberg
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-87615272022-01-18 Simplifying Programming for Non-technical Students: A Hermeneutic Approach Valente, Andrea Marchetti, Emanuela Kunstliche Intell (Oldenbourg) Technical Contribution This paper investigates the simplification of programming for non-technical university students. Typical simplification strategies are outlined, and according to our findings CT courses for non-technical students typically address learners from different faculties, providing generic and basic knowledge, not specifically related to their major. In this study, we propose instead a hermeneutic approach to simplify programming, in which we aim at clarifying the problem-solving aspect of programming, addressing computational problems that are specific to their studies and leveraging on learners’ preunderstanding of the digital media they have experienced as users. The practical counterpart of our theoretical approach is a minimalistic Python multimedia library, called Medialib, that we designed to enable university students with a non-technical profile to create visual media and games with short and readable code. We discuss the use of Medialib in two empirical case studies: a collaboration with the university of Kyushu in Fukuoka, Japan, and a coding module for Media Studies students at the University of Southern Denmark. Furthermore, we use Notional Machines to attempt a comparison of the simplicity of learning tools for programming, and to ground our claim that Medialib is “simpler” for learners than other popular approaches. The main contribution is a hermeneutic approach to the simplification of programming for specific contexts that combines the hermeneutic spiral and notional machines. The approach is supported by a tool, the Medialib library; the two case studies provide examples of how the approach and tool can be deployed in beginners in CT courses. Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2022-01-17 2022 /pmc/articles/PMC8761527/ /pubmed/35068698 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13218-021-00748-0 Text en © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany and Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. 2021 This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.
spellingShingle Technical Contribution
Valente, Andrea
Marchetti, Emanuela
Simplifying Programming for Non-technical Students: A Hermeneutic Approach
title Simplifying Programming for Non-technical Students: A Hermeneutic Approach
title_full Simplifying Programming for Non-technical Students: A Hermeneutic Approach
title_fullStr Simplifying Programming for Non-technical Students: A Hermeneutic Approach
title_full_unstemmed Simplifying Programming for Non-technical Students: A Hermeneutic Approach
title_short Simplifying Programming for Non-technical Students: A Hermeneutic Approach
title_sort simplifying programming for non-technical students: a hermeneutic approach
topic Technical Contribution
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8761527/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35068698
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13218-021-00748-0
work_keys_str_mv AT valenteandrea simplifyingprogrammingfornontechnicalstudentsahermeneuticapproach
AT marchettiemanuela simplifyingprogrammingfornontechnicalstudentsahermeneuticapproach