Student Context

Driven by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, programming is quickly becoming one of the most in-demand skills of the 21st century. The sciences and industry alike have been reshaped by increasingly powerful computational methodologies, including machine learning and other branches of artificial intelligence. However, the so-called “digital divide” between developed and developing countries is widening and South African students risk being left behind the rest of the world.

Every year, I perform a needs assessment before the class starts so that I can tailor the course. I start with trying to understand their motivation, as that can often influence performance. 

I ask what they plan to do with their degree. Perhaps not surprisingly, most 3rd year physics students do not want to become physicists. Even at the honours level, in 2021 and 2022 I found that less than half the class was interested in an academic career. This is not uncommon, particularly in the hard sciences, but I feel this knowledge should shape how we teach. In contrast to, for example, a dentistry degree where it seems likely a graduate would pursue a career in dentistry, physics graduates pursue a wide range of careers. Understanding these motivations has influenced the way I speak to the students (often referencing the value of the skills they are gaining both in industry and in academia) and also how I structure the course.

My experience is that students think very deeply and are very concerned about their future. I ask students if they are interested in improving their programming skills (to which they almost always say yes) and then I ask them to explain their answer. Here are a few select examples from 2020-2022 both 3rd year and Honours students:

• “I want my programming skills to reach a point of maximum for entry data science roles. I want to be able to do big data analysis and interpretation, data modeling and visualization. I want to be prepared for a Juniour Data Science role.”

• “To become better at modelling and solving problems. I would also like to learn more about programming and get more practice and experience doing it.”

• “I want to qualify for wider variety of jobs.”

• “I want to be able to use machine learning to solve real world statistical physics problems”

• “it is essential skill which will assist me greatly to become a great Astrophysicists/Data scientist , and provides limitless capabilities with the amount of data collected of our Universe.”

• “It is quite evident that 4IR is not a thing of the future, the pandemic we're in has forced us out of our comfort and into the 4IR. In Astrophysicists computational physics would be of great assistance as we would use coding for models.”

The results from this needs assessment made it clear to me that my students are keenly aware of the need to develop strong computational skills, both for a career in physics and industry, and I could tap into this high level of motivation during the course.

I allowed them to describe specific challenges they were facing, which included not being able to use the household’s single computer during the day, noisy environments and family demands that left little time and focus for studying. One Honours student even informed me that he wrote most of his python code using his phone, later copying it over to his laptop to run, because the laptop was so slow. These challenges form significant barriers to learning, particularly for this practical course which by its very nature requires a working computer.

The pandemic has also left a lasting impact on student education. In the needs assessment surveys, I allow students to free-write about their experience with online learning. Here are a few examples taken from 2021 and 2022 third-year classes:

• “It was difficult to study during the pandemic, mainly due to the absence of communication with classmates about the coursework and the quality of lectures were not best.”

• “It has been very hard especially studying from home. It's not like I have a choice anyway because the institution does not accomodate students from within the province for residence. Online lectures have been challenging because zoom would sometimes have glitches, making it hard to listen to the lecturer.”

• “It's been traumatic and challenging, but im glad i got through it”

• “For me, the period was the hardest one yet, hopefully now that we going face to face it will be fun to learn again.”

On the other hand, some students found positives in the online environment:

• “Recorded lectures were very helpful since if there was something i didnt quite understand from my notes I could always go back and rewatch it”

• “As a neurodivergent learner it's been quite difficult for me to stay focused at home with real time lectures, but recorded lectures that I can rewatch have been really helpful.”

• “What worked for me during pandemic was from lecture videos and making my own notes from my own understanding of the lecture video. Assignments helped a lot as they were a measure of the understand of work we've done.”

These comments strongly influenced my current blended approach to learning, particularly providing online resources that can be accessed at any time, which is discussed in more detail in Teaching Practices.