Objects First and BlueJ workshop

The workshop is intended to demonstrate to lecturers and tutors how they can maximise their students’ understanding of object-oriented programming. Michael and David discuss their approach to teaching and introduce BlueJ as their chief pedagogical tool within this broader framework. The workshop is an interactive forum in which the attendees put forward the everyday pitfalls and setbacks that they encounter in their teaching. Michael and David then tailor the basic agenda to discuss how they would overcome the various problems suggested. As the day progresses, Michael and David come to challenge many of the confusing and outdated conventions accepted within the teaching of objects and demonstrate how their methodology is much more lucid and understandable for the student. The end of the workshop invites an open discussion the day’s topics.
Overall, the workshop impresses that when teaching concepts as challenging as object-oriented programming, what you leave out can be as important as what you include. Michael and David’s approach, along with BlueJ, exemplify this ethos and their indisputable success as teachers suggests that theirs is a model many would do well to emulate.