Using Social Platforms to Increase Engagement in Teaching Computer Programming
Aderonke Busayo Sakpere · 2019
Programming has the potential to bring to life that which is most minute in man's imagination. Imagination, however, it will all remain, if no appropriate intervention is made to facilitate the learning of programming. Research studies show that the traditional, face-to-face method of teaching does not provide an enabling environment for learning programming. Hence, outside-classroom intervention is called for. Certain previous studies have tried to build new tools to support the outside-classroom intervention. However, there a need to study the use of existing, familiar and relaxing environments, such as social media, for this intervention. In this paper, we investigate the capability of a social media platform to support the learning of programming among learners in the developing world. We chose the WhatsApp platform as the starting point to uncover these design needs. We also reflected on the lessons learnt using this intervention.