In 2011, Middlesex University undertook a fundamental review of its undergraduate computer science programme. Several areas were addressed, in a holistic way, by a strong team who would take the process through from concept to teaching and assessment. The challenge was to develop an approach to first-year teaching that addressed poor progression from year one to year two in a diverse student body, who are typically working to support themselves and others, often commuting long distances, and hence being time-poor.
Many students lack academic confidence, having reached university through paths other than traditional A-level routes. Programming was core, as “coding” was recognised as an area of national skill shortage that typically causes high failure rates. Discussions with employers identified the importance of physical computing, as intelligent devices, smart environments and the Internet of Things become more common.
Against this background the core team was formed comprising Dr Bob Fields, Professor Martin Loomes, Professor Franco Raimondi, Ed Currie, Dr Kelly Androutsopoulos, Leonidas Aristodemou, Michael Heeney, and Dr Jaap Boender. Key strengths included the diverse experience (from recent graduates, to experienced academics) and the ability to develop as a team (less experienced members progressively took on more responsibility, and developed into more substantive academic roles).
In 2019, the original core team is still going strong as the pedagogy that has evolved is founded upon a single team responsible for all aspects of the operation and continued evolution of the whole first year teaching, from technical support through to pastoral care. Key areas of impact include: an innovative problem-based approach to assessing students’ competency (To support this, the team designed and built the novel, scalable and reliable online "SOBtool", that supports assessment, student feedback, and analytics), a flexible approach to teaching that has created opportunities for students outside of the classroom, significant improvements in learning and progression rates, influence on learning and teaching elsewhere (for example, the SOBtool is being used on other programmes, currently supporting over 1000 students) and on wider institutional planning (for example, a greater focus on a problem-based approaches and an estates strategy to support this).