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

The Mob Mentality Show

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.
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Video and Show Notes: https://youtu.be/Rajvp2nrg1A