BOOK OF ABSTRACTS EdTech 2019: The Digital Transformation of Irish Higher and Further Education –Real or Imagined?
This presentation will look at the creation of a hybrid computer programming language combining the power of the traditional textual Java language with the visual features of the Snap! language. Textual programming languages (such as Java, Python and C++) are the main languages taught in Computer Science courses at third level, while visual programming languages (such as Scratch and Alice) are more prominently used in the education of younger students, mainly those students under sixteen. Some visual languages (such as ScratchJr and Snap!) have a reach to children as young as five. It has been well documented that there exists a gap in the education of students in their mid- to late-teenage years where perhaps visual languages are no longer suitable and textual languages may involve too steep of a learning curve
