“First of all, we need to figure out why we need software, and today we will learn to understand how the software works.  Let’s play with software!”

Computer Thinking and Software Coding’s first class was opened on the 17th of March in Sungkyunkwan University Hoamgwan’s multimedia studio, with 20 students who were ready to learn.

They were all liberal arts students but they didn’t hesitate to study SW.  Instead, they regarded coding SW as mandatory.  After AlphaGo, the Artificial Intelligence (AI), won against Se Dol Lee the ninth grader in Go, it motivated the students to study.  Dong Un Kim (19, Freshmen in Global Economics) said, “After the match between AlphaGo and Se Dol Lee, I realized that we could use AI to solve problems in various fields and if I think I need better software skills after completing this class, I will consider taking the advanced SW course as an interdisciplinary program.”

At Sungkyunkwan University, from this year all students have to take a SW course. Students studying Humanities and Social Sciences have to complete 4 credits in order to graduate.  16 SW-related courses are offered this semester for non-major students and 2,517 students are enrolled.  There are 124 SW tutors who are in their third or fourth year of their undergraduate studies and completed the tutor-training program.  They are helping students in the class as teaching assistants.

The reason why Sungkyunkwan University has applied SW as a mandatory course is to foster integrated talent and improve students’ thinking abilities.  “The goal of SW education is not to foster developers but to build thinking ability.  The process of analyzing problems and solving them by making algorithms with computing principles will help the students cultivate logical and analytical thinking skills,” said Dr. Jae Hyoun Kim, professor of Computer Education.  Moreover, the Professor mentioned, “I hope the students don’t get stressed out by the mandatory course and find a way to utilize SW knowledge in their individual fields of study.”