This article describes a holistic approach to designing an introductory, object-oriented programming course. The design is grounded in constructivism and pedagogy of phenomenography. We use constructive alignment as the framework to align assessments, learning, and teaching with planned learning outcomes. We plan learning and teaching activities, and media with an understanding of variation theory and the ways in which students learn to program. We outline the implementation of the course, and discuss the findings from the first cycle of an action research study with a small sample of undergraduate students. An investigation of the preferred (deep/surface) learning approaches of the students led us to believe that these approaches can be influenced through course design. Personal constructs of the students, elicited through the repertory grid technique, revealed that rich inventories of learning resources are highly valued. We comment on the transformational processes of the experience of the participants, and identify areas for further refinement and investigation in the next action research cycle.