Awakening Rip Van Winkle

Connolly, Randy W.

doi:10.1145/1999747.1999756

Cited by 13 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…In North America, Web development tends to be taught as part of a wider computer science/information systems curriculum [Connolly 2011;Qadah and Al-Shomrani 2011;Walker and Browne 1999;Wang 2011;Wang and Zahadat 2009]. As a result, courses tend to be similar in their approach and attempt to cover a range of topics, including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and server side scripting.…”

Section: "Common" Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a result, courses tend to be similar in their approach and attempt to cover a range of topics, including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and server side scripting. An extensive review of the computer science Web education literature by Connolly [2011] revealed that the most common approach to teaching Web development in North America is "to try and fit all the material within a single upper-level course" [p. 19], causing some difficulty in the delivery. The limited time dedicated to the teaching of Web development and the sheer amount of fundamental concepts that need to be covered, makes it incredibly difficult to cover them all within one course.…”

Section: "Common" Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

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Uncovering “Threshold Concepts” in Web Development: An Instructor Perspective

Alston

Walsh

Westhead

2015

ACM Trans. Comput. Educ.

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The field of Web development has evolved and diversified significantly in recent years, and narrowing the gap between the requirements of academia and the demands of industry remains a challenge. Moreover, many faculty members often struggle with knowing "how much" of a particular subject they should teach to their students and at what level. This small-scale, exploratory study seeks to uncover the existence of "threshold concepts" within Web development. Threshold concepts are the fundamental concepts which, once mastered, allow a learner to progress to a deeper understanding of a subject. An online questionnaire was sent out to 24 instructors within UK higher education institutions who teach Web development subjects. Nine participants responded to the questionnaire and interviews were conducted with five to discuss and expand on the responses provided, resulting in the identification of four areas that were perceived as difficult for students to grasp when learning Web development. Analysis of these areas suggests that threshold concepts do exist within the subject and we offer up two candidates for the field of Web development: basic programming principles and decomposition and abstraction. Designing a curriculum based on threshold concepts and less on the latest methods, tools, and techniques can go a long way in helping students to become experts in their chosen discipline.

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