CHALLENGES RELATED TO COMPUTER PROGRAMMING EDUCATION IN SAUDI ARABIA

The economic development of countries depends upon their technological competitiveness. Computer technology is a major component of technology. More the people are competent in computer technology, the greater the chance of economic development. Saudi Arabia is no exception to this common view. Although computer education was started in Saudi Arabia in 1984, the progress had been slow for a long time. However, now, with the implementation of Vision 2030, there is a high focus on elevating the skills of the Saudi workforce to the global levels. Computer technology has a big role in this regard. The full implementation and achievement of developing computer skills among the Saudi workforce are affected by many issues and challenges. This paper reviews these challenges and issues and the possible solutions offered for some of them, using published literature. A systematic review methodology was utilised for this research. A total of 29 papers were shortlisted and reviewed. Challenges were noted both in learning and in teaching sides. Despite cultural segregation of gender, women are increasingly enrolling in computer programming courses due to government support, family influence, and a stable workplace. Needs and demands on computer skills are rapidly changing with time. This necessitates frequent updating of computer curricula. Many problems are faced by freshers and their seniors. Lack of knowledge in problem-solving affects their ability to construct algorithms and codes and variables for their programming. This is aggravated by a lack of feedback on errors. Other challenges include inadequate practice, inadequacies of time allocated for labs and tutorials, poor quantity and quality of homework, poor selection of instructors, discouragement by universities on computer use, lack of competency of instructors to motivate students, and absence of quality assurance and monitoring. Solutions have been suggested for some of these like 3D animation software like ALICE and automatic assessment. Teaching challenges include workloads due to large classes affecting individual attention to weak students and the need to address students' problems listed above. Common problems both students and teachers need to be solved through further research. Specific computer programming needs of healthcare professionals, hard of hearing students are to be addressed by implementing specific solutions. Some research in the future will also be helpful. The above challenges can be addressed by adapting solutions from research to the Saudi Arabia context.