How Software Prof Ben Kovitz Turned His Class into a Live Coding Mob

What happens when a college software design course ditches traditional lectures and embraces Mob Programming? In this episode of the Mob Mentality Show, we sit down with Ben Kovitz, a former software developer turned professor at Cal Poly Humboldt, to explore his innovative approach to teaching software design through mobbing. Topics Covered: ✅ From Industry to Academia: Why Ben left software development to become a professor and how he discovered mob programming.✅ Redefining Software Education: Instead of 30 traditional lectures on software design, Ben’s students learn by doing—designing software while coding.✅ The Power of Mobbing in the Classroom: How students collaborate in the mob of 8, rapidly sharing knowledge and tackling challenges together.✅ Fast Learning vs. Lectures: Why mobbing enables faster knowledge transfer compared to passive lectures.✅ Strong-Style Navigation: How rotations and fast timers helped to stimulate a highly effective learning environment.✅ The Role of the Navigator: How students help each other navigate, learn C++ and the QT framework, and document key lessons from each mob session.✅ Real-World Software Challenges: Simulating legacy code maintenance, evolutionary design, and design patterns like MVC (Model-View-Controller).✅ Overcoming Student Struggles: What happens when students don’t know how to navigate? How asking for help and learning together fosters growth.✅ Teaching Through Experience: Letting students experiment with flawed solutions before introducing better design principles.✅ Assessment & Engagement: How Ben measures student participation, engagement, and learning outcomes in a mobbing environment. Why This Matters: Traditional software design education can leave students unprepared for the realities of refactoring real code and collaborative development. By integrating Mob Programming, refactoring techniques, and hands-on problem-solving, Ben Kovitz is equipping the next generation of developers with practical, real-world skills and deeper design insights.📢 Subscribe to the Mob Mentality Show to stay updated on the latest insights in Mob Programming, Extreme Programming (XP), Agile, and collaborative software development! 🎧 Listen on your favorite podcast platform: https://www.mobmentalityshow.com 🔔 Don’t forget to LIKE, COMMENT, and SUBSCRIBE for more episodes on software development, coding education, and team collaboration! Video and Show Notes: https://youtu.be/Rajvp2nrg1A