Pragmatism and Production: Introductory Computing in an Undergraduate Business Curriculum

• Authors: W. Brett Mckenzie
• Venue: Proceedings of Alice Symposium on Alice Symposium
• Year: 2013

In general, computing in business is an applied activity with computing serving as a utility to provide leverage for business goals. This is in contrast to a computer science program where computing is more likely an end in itself. The former is pragmatic the latter is more theoretical. Similarly, in high schools computing resources are frequently found in the business departments where students use them purposefully for production rather than as objects of inquiry. Despite the differences, programming is essential to understanding and using computing. Students in business programs tend to be production oriented in that the courses often create artifacts, which are increasingly becoming the foundation for the course outcomes. Alice has demonstrated itself to be a good fit with the programming requirements for the business curriculum as it prepares students for programming in a scripting environment and exposes them to object oriented concepts. Additionally, Alice has the advantage of providing a product -- a functioning world to specifications -- accessible to a wide audience. Both the adaptability of Alice to a pragmatic approach and the creation of a product reinforce Alice as an introductory environment for computer programming in business.