Employing Object Technology to Expose Fundamental Object Concepts

This paper explores technical issues in the design of programming tools, development environments, simulations, code examples, user interface frameworks and pedagogies for a university-level course on object-oriented software development. The course, M206 ‘Computing: An Object-oriented Approach’ has been specifically developed for distance learning, and is enrolling over 5,000 students per year (average age 37) in the UK, Europe and Singapore. The course introduces computing via an object-oriented approach. M206 is substantial in extent, representing one sixth of a degree. It embodies a practical, industryoriented view of computing and includes programming, analysis, design, and group working. Considerable effort has been invested in making the simplicity, consistency and power of object technology accessible to and capable of being applied by beginners. A diverse set of educational media, such as CD-ROMs, TV and the Web, have been deployed as learning resources. The paper describes the agenda for the course, its object-oriented pedagogy and our strategy for delivery. We explain measures taken to avoid misconceptions about objects, our analysis and design method, and the Smalltalk programming environment we have developed specifically for learners and which is crucial to our approach. The paper outlines how our adherence to the separation of view and domain model leads to technical innovations. Concluding remarks reflect on the benefits a reflexive strategy, both in education and training.