The More You Teach, the Less They Learn: Effects of Teaching Approaches on Learning Performance

Typically, an introductory programming course is a required course for business college undergraduate students majoring ininformation systems. Different instructors may have different approaches to teaching this course: Some give lectures andassign programming exercises, while others only assign programming exercises without giving lectures. This researchdeliberately compared the effects of the two teaching approaches on learning performance. Results indicated that: (1) bothapproaches are effective, and (2) the programming-exercises-only approach is more effective than the other approach. Furtheranalysis indicated that students’ current programming skills, prior programming experience, and grade expectation, aresignificant antecedents of students’ performance in terms of their final grades for the course. These results suggested thatwhen teaching introductory programming courses, instructors may consider choosing the student-centered active learningover the traditional lecture format in order to improve students’ learning performance

Teaching Introductory Programming to IS Students: The Impact of Teaching Approaches on Learning Performance

Introductory programming courses are typically required for undergraduate students majoring in Information Systems. Instructors use different approaches to teaching this course: some lecturing and assigning programming exercises, others only assigning programming exercises without lectures. This research compares the effects of these two teaching approaches on learning performance by collecting data from two sections of an introductory programming course in an urban public university. One section used lectures and assignments while the other used assignments only. Data analysis included tests within each dataset, tests across the two datasets, and tests of a simple model over the combined dataset. Results indicated that both approaches are effective, but the exercises-only approach is more effective than lectures combined with exercises. Further analysis indicated that students’ current programming skills, prior programming experience, and grade expectations are significant antecedents of learning performance in the course. Results support the conclusion suggesting that when teaching introductory programming courses, instructors may want to consider choosing the student-centered active learning over the traditional lecture format in order to improve students’ learning performance. This study contributes to the improvement of teaching and learning effectiveness as well as efficiency of introductory programming classes to the benefit of instructors and students, alike

ALT-C 2012 Abstracts

This is a PDF of the abstracts for all the sessions at the 2012 ALT conference. It is designed to be used alongside the online version of the conference programme. It was made public on 7 September 2012

An empirical investigation into the effectiveness of a robot simulator as a tool to support the learning of introductory programming

Background: Robots have been used in the past as tools to aid the teaching of programming. Thereis limited evidence, however, about the effectiveness of simulated robots for this purpose.Aim: To investigate the effectiveness of a robot simulator, as a tool to support the learning ofintroductory programming, by undertaking empirical research involving a range of participants.Method: After the completion of a Systematic Literature Review, and exploratory researchinvolving 33 participants, a multi-case case study was undertaken. A robot simulator wasdeveloped and it was subsequently used to run four 10-hour programming workshops. Participantsincluded students aged 16 to 18 years old (n. 23) and trainee teachers (n. 23). Three in-serviceteachers (n. 3) also took part. Effectiveness was determined by considering participants’ opinions,attitudes and motivation using the simulator in addition to an analysis of the students’ programmingperformance. Pre- and post-questionnaires, in- and post-workshop programming exercises,interviews and observations were used to collect data.Results: Participants enjoyed learning using the simulator and believed the approach to be valuableand engaging. Whilst several factors must be taken into consideration, the programmingperformance of students indicates that the simulator aids learning as most completed tasks to asatisfactory standard. The majority of trainee teachers, who had learned programming beforehand,believed that the simulator offered a more effective means of introducing the subject compared totheir previous experience. In-service teachers were of the opinion that a simulator offers a valuablemeans for supporting the teaching of programming.Conclusion: Evidence suggests that a robot simulator can offer an effective means of introducingprogramming concepts to novices. Recommendations and suggestions for future research arepresented based on the lessons learned. It is intended that these will help to guide the developmentand use of robot simulators in order to teach programming

A constructivist, mobile and principled approach to the learning and teaching of programming

Novices in programming courses need to acquire a theoretical understanding of programming concepts as well as practical skills for applying them, but in traditional learning environments students passively listen to the lecture without proactive practice-based learning. There is a need for a constructivist approach to learning based on the ability of the learner to construct his or her own knowledge from the concepts provided by the instructors. Therefore, learning that uses a practical approach offers more in-depth understanding to students and sustains students’ attention as well as encourages students to be active players in their own learning process. The ubiquitous use of mobile devices and the evolution of mobile device technologies have led to a growing interest in these devices as pedagogical aids in a constructivist learning approach where students can immediately practice the concepts being taught in the lecture on their mobile devices

Supporting student team project work : the Guardian Agent system

The research presented in this thesis investigates student team working, by designing, implementing and evaluating a prototype software system, as an aid for co-located students carrying out their team project work. In higher education team projects are a good way for students to put theory into practice and gain experience of team working, by working collaboratively. But difficulties often arise during the projects, which prevent students from benefiting fully from the experience. Some difficulties are known to arise in organisational teams, and others are unique to student teams, but the getting started stage is crucial for developing team cohesion.Technology tools are used to support the task oriented roles of team working, but there is little support for students to get started on their team projects, and to develop a shared understanding. This prototype system provides a function for allocating tasks of the project to appropriate team members and a function to help the team to agree ground rules for team working.A case study approach was adopted for this research, and the prototype system was developed over three cycles, amending the system according to student feedback. At the end of the study, data obtained from the students was analysed to find out how useful the online support system was for helping the student teams to get started on their projects.The students in this case did benefit from the functions this system provided, in particular the team leaders used the output to help plan their projects, and output from the system contributed to team cohesion through developing a shared understanding between the team members. These students recognised the potential of the system for helping students working on team projects online, and gave suggestions for modifications to the system that could be incorporated in further development of the system