Is it visual? The importance of a problem solving module within a computing course

This paper looks at student’s view of the usefulness of a problem solving and programming module in the first year of a 3-year undergraduate program. The School of Science and Technology, University of Northampton, UK has been investigating, over the last seven years the teaching of problem solving. Including looking at whether a more visual approach has any benefits (the visual programming includes both 2-d and graphical user interfaces). Whilst the authors have discussed the subject problem solving and programming in the past (Turner and Hill) this paper considers the students perspective from research collected/collated by a student researcher under a new initiative within the University. All students interviewed either had completed the module within the two years of the survey or were completing the problem-solving module in their first year.