So, I'm thinking about what literacy might mean in the context of programming. What does it actually mean to be a literate programmer? Well, I think a big part of it means you can read, write, speak, and listen to others talk about code. So, that's what I'm doing in this course. In short, providing an environment to do *ALL* of those things.
However, I'm also leveling the field a bit by not allowing the use of a mainstream programming language for implementation. Moreover, SICP forces people to read code in a somewhat unfamiliar source (Scheme). So, yeah, this is probably going to put most attendees on some unsteady ground.
And that's by design because I want the course to involve a lot of communication related to coding and problem solving.
I'm doing some other things in the course that are probably only feasible because of the small class size (12). For example, having people using the same implementation language discuss their solutions with each other while the rest of us watch.