Novel curricula and tools for Java in CS1 courses
Glenn David Blank, Robert N. Moll · Journal of computing sciences in colleges · 2008
This workshop introduces novel curricula and tools for Java. Dr. Blank demonstrates how to start a course design-first, using web-based multimedia and a procedure to develop a class diagram from a problem description. A UML tool provides feedback and generates skeletons of Java source code from class diagrams. Students then use DrJava to implement and test them. Dr. Moll introduces iJava, an interactive, webbased textbook. On each page, students enter code and get immediate feedback. Thus the cycle has students reading a few paragraphs of text, then interacting with Java to consolidate their understanding of the material.