![]() ![]() It’s this perspective on teaching and student learning that separates BlueJ from other professional tools in this space, which are primarily designed from a functional engineering perspective. And so it started off from my own experience’, Prof Kölling explains. ‘Right from the start BlueJ was designed with introductory university level teaching in mind, because that’s where I teach myself. The beginnings of BlueJ go all the way back to 1999 when Prof Kölling developed a programming environment embedded in educational research as part of his doctoral degree. It’s one of the most successful academic systems out there and a key instrument to meet head on the programming scale up challenge that the UK and so many other countries face.Ĭover of the sixth edition of the BlueJ textbook.īackground: designing an interface against robust pedagogical principles To this day, BlueJ has been implemented by thousands of institutions worldwide and attracts 2 million new users every year. Rather than leaving learners to grapple with an inflexible platform, BlueJ is constantly evolving to reflect new research in programming education. BlueJ is a development platform for Java that is specifically designed for A-level and first-year university students from any discipline who want to learn the principles of programming. The UK Government has recognised the problem and is developing a ‘digital skills policy’ to ensure that ‘digital education is prioritised and invested in to build a diverse pipeline of talent for the future’.Ī team at KCL Informatics is firmly on the case: step forward BlueJ the brainchild of Prof Michael Kölling. While IT skills are in high demand across all sectors, significant barriers often make it difficult for underrepresented groups to upskill. Further down the line, the widely expected shift towards more automation and ubiquitous AI will only exacerbate the issue. Nearly half of recently surveyed UK business leaders believe that this gap will have a considerable negative effect on their organisation in the years to come. The UK, along with other leading economies, faces a significant digital skills gap. Recent studies suggest that the private sector in the UK won’t be able to provide the level of on-the-job training that’d be required to get new starters up to speed and ready to tackle the IT challenges of the future. While an ever-increasing number of school leavers and graduates require a solid programming education, the educational needs of learners are constantly evolving too. Many jobs of the future will require at least some skills at coding, and automation will be a key driver of economic success in the years to come: estimates suggest that AI alone may lead to an overall increase of 10% of GDP to the UK economy by 2030. Most countries in the world today face a considerable challenge to scale up the programming skills of their population. A team at KCL Informatics has developed a learning platform against robust educational research so that programming is engaging and fun to learn – and it’s proving a big success. ![]() Good programming skills are essential for a data-driven future but learning to code can be tough. Meeting the programming scale up challenge with BlueJ ![]()
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