Circle U. has selected eleven projects for its 2025 seed-funding round, supporting new academic, professional and student-led initiatives across the alliance. The funded proposals reflect the alliance’s commitment to interdisciplinarity, sustainability, inclusion and long-term cooperation among its member universities. Each month, we spotlight one of these projects.
Rethinking how we teach coding beyond computer science
Programming is no longer limited to computer science degrees. From the social sciences to the natural sciences, coding is increasingly becoming an important skill for students across disciplines. Yet educators teaching programming to non-specialist students often develop their courses in isolation, with limited opportunities to exchange experiences or draw on shared pedagogical research.
The seed-funded project Coding as a Foreign Language: Building a Community of Practice for Teaching Programming to Non-Computer Science Students, led by Timothy Pullen (King's Collge London), aims to change this by connecting educators across the Circle U. alliance.
CodeFL will explore how educators can adapt their teaching to ensure that AI complements rather than replaces the development of problem-solving and computational-thinking skills.
In this article, Timothy Pullen explains why the project matters and what participants will work on this year.
Why does this research project matter?
Coding is now a core skill across many university subjects, yet educators often design courses in isolation, without the chance to share ideas or draw on evidence about what works. CodeFL addresses this by bringing teachers together to exchange experiences, learn from pedagogical research, and develop best practice guidelines.
A key element of the project is understanding how to teach programming effectively in an age of generative AI.
AI tools allow students to produce extensive code with little understanding, which can undermine the development of real problem-solving and computational thinking skills. Educators need support to reshape their teaching so that AI complements, rather than replaces, learning.
Timothy Pullen, project leader (KCL)
What will you achieve within the project this year?
One key activity this year is a four-day, in-person workshop in Berlin, bringing together educators from across the Circle U. alliance. Throughout the event, participants will compare teaching practices, discuss what motivates students to learn coding, and explore how different disciplines approach the subject. They’ll also interact with experts in programming pedagogy, helping them connect current research with real classroom challenges.
Working collaboratively, the group will produce a set of accessible best practice guidelines that reflect the diversity of experiences across institutions. Participants will leave with new professional connections, practical ideas to enhance their teaching, and a clearer sense of how to support non-specialist students in developing strong coding skills. By fostering these cross-institutional relationships, the workshop will lay the groundwork for a long-term, sustainable community of practice.
