A Maker Approach to Computer Science Education: Lessons Learned from a First-Year University Course.

Abstract

We report from a one-semester introductory course for first-year computer science students where Arduino, robot programming and app development with Processing was used to foster engagement and creativity. The main learning objective for the students was to learn basic hardware and software skills, while at the same time motivating for further computer science courses. The course had a total of 250 university students with two teachers and ten teaching assistants. The major challenges were related to creating exercises, educational material and a physical work environment for the students that allowed for creativity in the spirit of the maker culture. We learned that much effort must be placed on making a high number of well-documented small and complete examples that the students can use as a starting point in their projects. We also learned that the teaching assistants should themselves have spent much time experimenting with the actual technology.