Teaching Programming during COVID lockdowns – a positive lesson

Abstract: Teaching Programming during COVID lockdowns – a positive lesson. As an immediate response to the economic impact of COVID, in 2020 regional UK governments promoted short-term funded university courses to enable individuals that were redundant or furloughed to reskill in the area of software development. One of the courses developed was a novel Post Graduate Certificate in Software Development (Cert), based on a well-established MSc in Software Development (conversion) course (MSc SD) delivered at a local University. The course attracted over 700 applications, enabling the application of higher entry criteria than the MSc SD. Differences in the entry criteria and delivery format (entirely online for Cert) presented a unique Action Based research opportunity. This paper initially reports on course performance of the Cert in comparison to the MSc SD. It then provides an analysis of impact and differences within the enhanced entry criteria for the Cert. Providing discussion and recommendations for entry criteria and delivery mechanisms for similar courses.

Keywords: Programming Lecturing Covid

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe100887

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