Visiting Speaker: Violetta Lonati on the Nature of Programs

Published: 14 November 2022

Dr Violetta Lonati presents her working group report published at ITiCSE 2022 on the nature of programs.

TITLE: What we talk about when we talk about programs
SPEAKER: Violetta Lonati
DATE: 23rd January 2023
TIME: 13:00-14:00
DESCRIPTION:
Programs are strange creatures that elude simple definitions. They permeate our lives more inextricably than is often recognised, and all citizens of the digital age could benefit from understanding their multifaceted nature. 

A key component of this understanding is getting a sense of how programs are created and work (i.e. the programming process); indeed, programming plays a key role in many educational policies and initiatives. However, the current focus on coding skills risks giving students an overly simplistic and impoverished idea of what programming means and entails. Their experiences would be much more meaningful if learning were also aimed at gaining a fuller understanding of the richness of the nature of programs.

In this seminar we will present and discuss the Framework on the Nature of Programs, recently developed by an international working group of CS education experts. It is anticipated that the framework can be used to inform the design of sound CS curricula and activities, and support teachers and learners to understand the bigger picture around programming.


First published: 14 November 2022