Teaching psychology to computing students

Abstract

The aim of this paper is two-fold. The first aim is to discuss some observations gained from teaching psychology to computing students, highlighting both the wide range of areas where psychology is relevant to computing education and the topics that are relevant at different stages of students’ education. The second aim is to consider findings from research investigating the characteristics of computing and psychology students. It is proposed that this information could be considered in the design and use of psychology materials for computing students.The format for the paper is as follows. The first section will illustrate the many links between the disciplines of psychology and computing; highlighting these links helps to answer the question that many computing students ask, what can psychology offer to computing? The second section will then review some of the ways that psychologists have been involved in the teaching of psychology to computing students, from A/AS level to undergraduate and postgraduate level. The third section will compare the profiles of computing and psychology students (e.g. on age, gender and motivation to study), to highlight how an understanding of these factors can be used to adapt psychology teaching materials for computing students. The conclusions which cover some practical suggestions are presented in the fourth section.