Low-Code and No-Code in Secondary Education-Empowering Teachers to Embed Citizen Development in Schools

• Published in: Computers in the schools Vol. 41; no. 4; pp. 399 - 424
• Main Authors: McHugh, Sally, Carroll, Noel, Connolly, Cornelia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Routledge 01.10.2024; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: citizen development; Citizenship education; Digital literacy; Educational technology; Influence of Technology; Low-code-no-code; Secondary education; Secondary school teachers; Skills; Software; Teacher attitudes; Teacher education; Teacher Education Programs; Teacher Empowerment
• ISSN: 0738-0569; 1528-7033
• DOI: 10.1080/07380569.2023.2256729

Citizen Development (CD) is a method of delivering low-code no-code (LCNC) development that empowers subject matter experts to design, develop, and deploy applications into production as though they were full-on, experienced coders. This paper explores teachers' perceptions around the potential for, and enactment of LCNC in our education system. Workshops, surveys, and interviews were conducted with in-service teachers. Teachers are open to improving their digital skills. Nevertheless, some teachers fear technology and are reluctant to embrace change. Our results indicate that it is timely to leverage the increased use of technologies in the classroom before teaching reverts to pre-pandemic norms of "face-to-face." CD provides an excellent opportunity to introduce teachers and students to aspects of computer science without placing demands on them to develop technical skills. The paper provides considerations for the adoption of CD in our education system and in initial teacher education programs.