Paarprogrammering: meer as net saamwerk in pare
Abstract
Pair programming originated
in the industry where focus is placed on the development of a programme at the most costand
time-effective manner, and within the parameters of quality. In this context, a specific
programming code is not developed individually; rather, two people work together in order to
ensure a higher quality programming code and to motivate each other to work at a faster pace.
The problem with this approach was that novice programmers lacked the social skills to work
in pairs as they had not been exposed to this sufficiently at tertiary level. The demand of the
industry, especially in terms of programmers needing to be able to programme together, led
to the incorporation of pair programming at tertiary level in the late nineties. The pedagogical
principles on which any teaching-learning strategy should be built were, however, largely
overlooked during this process. This article firstly looks into the semantic and ontological
differences between co-operative and collaborative learning and secondly argues that pair
programming, within the context of a social constructivist approach to teaching and learning,
can be seen as a co-operative teaching-learning strategy. Pair programming is more than just
allowing two students to work together on a programming task. The more structured way, in
which pair programming needs to be implemented, concur with the principles of co-operative
learning. The article concludes that the correct pedagogical application of pair programming
as a co-operative teaching-learning strategy in tertiary education will result in improved
learning capital
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