At least use a syntax highlighting editor (Score 1)

Using a traditional editor will have students gazing at incorrect language constructs while flipping back and forth between whatever they use for reference and the application text trying to spot the error. Repeat an error a few times and it becomes a habit, look at syntactically wrong code for a while and it becomes a recognized pattern. All counterproductive to actually learning the new language constructs. A syntax highlighting editor will let them see immediately when they enter something incorrectly and allow them to correct it before it forms a habit or becomes a recognized pattern. In general any tool that enhances the speed and accuracy of learning valid language constructs has to be a boon to the goals of your class. Teaching language X has little to do with developing logic skills. What it does give them in spades is adaptability to new languages. The more languages someone learns, the easier it is to learn a new one. When they get that first new job and the language is _, the more languages they learned in school, the more likely they are to already know _ or to be able to pick it up quickly. If you have secondary goals for the class, use those for determining whether an IDE would be a benefit or a detriment. Learning to code is a never ending process. Different people learn better in different ways. I would tend toward allowing options that will enhance each students ability to learn while minizing the requirements that they all learn a specific way (ie. with or without an IDE in this case). Give them a goal and expose them to tools and let them choose their own way, no one solution is ever perfect or the best.