Toward constructive alignment with portfolio assessment for introductory programming

Learning to program is widely agreed to be a challenging task for many students. Introductory programming units are typically taken by largely diverse student cohorts, with a range of different learning approaches and prior programming knowledge. With issues such as declining enrolments and high attrition, alternate methods for teaching introductory programming need to be investigated. Constructive alignment is a student-centered model of education that aims to enhance learning through the amalgamation of constructivism and aligned curriculum. Constructive alignment encourages students to adopt deep approaches to learning, which should be beneficial to students in introductory programming. This paper proposes an approach for using constructive alignment with portfolio assessment in the teaching of introductory programming, together with preliminary results and analysis.