Notes

This unit structure is simply unsustainable. Teaching coding in this method may seem good on paper and in conferences where new concepts of teaching pedagogy are important to stand out, but it simply does not work in reality. The number of students I have seen and heard complaining about the teaching of this unit is staggering, and it doesn't seem that it is anywhere near apparent for any other units at this university. The approach of barely teaching the basics and general understanding of Javascript and HTML before continuing on to more complex techniques not only wastes time and energy of both the students and the demonstrator, in having to explain basic concepts after much of the advanced concepts have already been practiced incorrectly, but also demoralises any student that even attempts to code. Without any prior experience with coding, this unit would have been quite outrageous, and the assessments rely on at least one or two people in a team having prior experience to know what is going on. All in all, I suggest a large change to the structure of 1003, or at least for the unit coordinator to sit in on one Tutorial a week, to see how the students cope throughout the semester.