The MIT program at CQU was designed to provide graduates from disciplines
other than IT or mature-age students with field experience an opportunity to
obtain formal qualification in the field of Information and Communication
Technology (ICT). Facilitating migration from other disciplines benefits the ICT
industry as it produces graduates with essential domain expertise in different
areas. In this context, the varying levels of aptitude, interest, preparedness, and
expectations of students add further complexity to student diversity and make the
job of teaching programming more challenging. On the other hand, in order to
design, develop, maintain and troubleshoot systems which are continually
growing in complexity and size, highly-skilled programmers are needed.
Considering the complexity and difficulties, teaching programming to students
from different disciplinary backgrounds requires a careful approach and
customised pedagogy. Simultaneously, these students need to go through an
intensive learning process to achieve the expected postgraduate skill level in two
years of study.