Introductory programming: a systematic literature review

As computing becomes a mainstream discipline embedded in the school curriculum and acts as an enabler for an increasing range of academic disciplines in higher education, the literature on introductory programming is growing. Although there have been several reviews that focus on specific aspects of introductory programming, there has been no broad overview of the literature exploring recent trends across the breadth of introductory programming. This paper is the report of an ITiCSE working group that conducted a systematic review in order to gain an overview of the introductory programming literature. Partitioning the literature into papers addressing the student, teaching, the curriculum, and assessment, we explore trends, highlight advances in knowledge over the past 15 years, and indicate possible directions for future research

Computational Thinking in Education: Where does it fit? A systematic literary review

Computational Thinking (CT) has been described as an essential skill which everyone should learn and can therefore include in their skill set. Seymour Papert is credited as concretising Computational Thinking in 1980 but since Wing popularised the term in 2006 and brought it to the international community's attention, more and more research has been conducted on CT in education. The aim of this systematic literary review is to give educators and education researchers an overview of what work has been carried out in the domain, as well as potential gaps and opportunities that still exist. Overall it was found in this review that, although there is a lot of work currently being done around the world in many different educational contexts, the work relating to CT is still in its infancy. Along with the need to create an agreed-upon definition of CT lots of countries are still in the process of, or have not yet started, introducing CT into curriculums in all levels of education. It was also found that Computer Science/Computing, which could be the most obvious place to teach CT, has yet to become a mainstream subject in some countries, although this is improving. Of encouragement to educators is the wealth of tools and resources being developed to help teach CT as well as more and more work relating to curriculum development. For those teachers looking to incorporate CT into their schools or classes then there are bountiful options which include programming, hands-on exercises and more. The need for more detailed lesson plans and curriculum structure however, is something that could be of benefit to teachers

Programming Learning Requirements Based on Multi Perspectives

Students occasionally find it difficult to learn new programming languages. They often confront unfamiliar programming terms and having difficulty to visualize the processes that happen in computer memory. Weak students find this a burden and end up memorizing the processes without understanding them and their workings. This situation invariably leads students to obtain low grades in their programming subjects. The preliminary investigation of survey was produce in previous work; the results showed that students have experienced ineffective learning, lack of interest towards this course and lack of motivation. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to identify programming learning requirements based on previous work and verified from two perspectives (experts and students). Finally, the result was a group of requirements that should be considered in programming language cours

The impact of pair programming on students logical thinking : a case study on higher academic institution / Mahfudzah Othman … [et al.]

Pair Programming (PP) is a well-known agile software development technique that has been widely implemented in programming classes. Through PP, students are able to share knowledge and expertise that will contribute to better programming solutions. Nevertheless, how PP can help to improve students’ cognitive abilities has yet to be explored. Therefore, this study’s aim was to investigate the impacts of implementing Pair Programming (PP) on students’ logical thinking. Logical thinking is part of the cognitive ability claimed to be one of the crucial factors that determine the success or failure of novice programmers. To achieve this, 60 students who enrolled in Diploma in Computer Science programme in Universiti Teknologi MARA Perlis Branch, Malaysia, were asked to take the pre-test and post-test of Group Assessment Logical Thinking (GALT) Test in the beginning and at the end of the semester. These students were divided into two main groups; Control and Test in the Test Group, students with low logical ability will be paired with their high logical thinking friends. Meanwhile, in the Control Group, no pair programming or collaborative technique took place. Five programming tasks were assigned to both groups to solve either collaboratively or individually. The results obtained via paired sample t-tests statistical analysis shows significant improvements in students’ logical thinking with p-value <0.05 in the Test Grou

Utilizing educational technology in computer science and programming courses : theory and practice

There is one thing the Computer Science Education researchers seem to agree: programming is a difficult skill to learn. Educational technology can potentially solve a number of difficulties associated with programming and computer science education by automating assessment, providing immediate feedback and by gamifying the learning process. Still, there are two very important issues to solve regarding the use of technology: what tools to use, and how to apply them? In this thesis, I present a model for successfully adapting educational technology to computer science and programming courses. The model is based on several years of studies conducted while developing and utilizing an exercise-based educational tool in various courses. The focus of the model is in improving student performance, measured by two easily quantifiable factors: the pass rate of the course and the average grade obtained from the course. The final model consists of five features that need to be considered in order to adapt technology effectively into a computer science course: active learning and continuous assessment, heterogeneous exercise types, electronic examination, tutorial-based learning, and continuous feedback cycle. Additionally, I recommend that student mentoring is provided and cognitive load of adapting the tools considered when applying the model. The features are classified as core components, supportive components or evaluation components based on their role in the complete model. Based on the results, it seems that adapting the complete model can increase the pass rate statistically significantly and provide higher grades when compared with a “traditional” programming course. The results also indicate that although adapting the model partially can create some improvements to the performance, all features are required for the full effect to take place. Naturally, there are some limits in the model. First, I do not consider it as the only possible model for adapting educational technology into programming or computer science courses. Second, there are various other factors in addition to students’ performance for creating a satisfying learning experience that need to be considered when refactoring courses. Still, the model presented can provide significantly better results, and as such, it works as a base for future improvements in computer science education.Ohjelmoinnin oppimisen vaikeus on yksi harvoja asioita, joista lähes kaikki tietojenkäsittelyn opetuksen tutkijat ovat jokseenkin yksimielisiä. Opetusteknologian avulla on mahdollista ratkaista useita ohjelmoinnin oppimiseen liittyviä ongelmia esimerkiksi hyödyntämällä automaattista arviointia, välitöntä palautetta ja pelillisyyttä. Teknologiaan liittyy kuitenkin kaksi olennaista kysymystä: mitä työkaluja käyttää ja miten ottaa ne kursseilla tehokkaasti käyttöön? Tässä väitöskirjassa esitellään malli opetusteknologian tehokkaaseen hyödyntämiseen tietojenkäsittelyn ja ohjelmoinnin kursseilla. Malli perustuu tehtäväpohjaisen oppimisjärjestelmän runsaan vuosikymmenen pituiseen kehitys- ja tutkimusprosessiin. Mallin painopiste on opiskelijoiden suoriutumisen parantamisessa. Tätä arvioidaan kahdella kvantitatiivisella mittarilla: kurssin läpäisyprosentilla ja arvosanojen keskiarvolla. Malli koostuu viidestä tekijästä, jotka on otettava huomioon tuotaessa opetusteknologiaa ohjelmoinnin kursseille. Näitä ovat aktiivinen oppiminen ja jatkuva arviointi, heterogeeniset tehtävätyypit, sähköinen tentti, tutoriaalipohjainen oppiminen sekä jatkuva palautesykli. Lisäksi opiskelijamentoroinnin järjestäminen kursseilla ja järjestelmän käyttöönottoon liittyvän kognitiivisen kuorman arviointi tukevat mallin käyttöä. Malliin liittyvät tekijät on tässä työssä lajiteltu kolmeen kategoriaan: ydinkomponentteihin, tukikomponentteihin ja arviontiin liittyviin komponentteihin. Tulosten perusteella vaikuttaa siltä, että mallin käyttöönotto parantaa kurssien läpäisyprosenttia tilastollisesti merkittävästi ja nostaa arvosanojen keskiarvoa ”perinteiseen” kurssimalliin verrattuna. Vaikka mallin yksittäistenkin ominaisuuksien käyttöönotto voi sinällään parantaa kurssin tuloksia, väitöskirjaan kuuluvien tutkimusten perusteella näyttää siltä, että parhaat tulokset saavutetaan ottamalla malli käyttöön kokonaisuudessaan. On selvää, että malli ei ratkaise kaikkia opetusteknologian käyttöönottoon liittyviä kysymyksiä. Ensinnäkään esitetyn mallin ei ole tarkoituskaan olla ainoa mahdollinen tapa hyödyntää opetusteknologiaa ohjelmoinnin ja tietojenkäsittelyn kursseilla. Toiseksi tyydyttävään oppimiskokemukseen liittyy opiskelijoiden suoriutumisen lisäksi paljon muitakin tekijöitä, jotka tulee huomioida kurssien uudelleensuunnittelussa. Esitetty malli mahdollistaa kuitenkin merkittävästi parempien tulosten saavuttamisen kursseilla ja tarjoaa sellaisena perustan entistä parempaan opetukseen

Teaching Tip: Promoting Inclusive Online Learning for Students with Disabilities in Information Systems Courses

It is important to ensure educational equity for students with disabilities in online courses as more courses are taught online during the pandemic. This conceptual paper describes the key barriers for instructors to implement inclusive online classes, particularly technology courses, during the COVID-19 pandemic and suggests specific strategies to mitigate the negative impact on students with disabilities. We hope that this paper will motivate more Information Technology/Information Systems (IT/IS) instructors to implement more inclusive and accessible online courses to keep all students, including students with disabilities, motivated and engaged in online environments throughout the pandemic

ScratchMaths: evaluation report and executive summary

Since 2014, computing has been part of the primary curriculum. ‘Scratch’ is frequently used by schools, and the EEF funded this trial to test whether the platform could be used to improve pupils’ computational thinking skills, and whether this in turn could have a positive impact on Key Stage 2 maths attainment. Good computational thinking skills mean pupils can use problem solving methods that involve expressing problems and their solutions in ways that a computer could execute – for example, recognising patterns. Previous research has shown that pupils with better computational thinking skills do better in maths. The study found a positive impact on computational thinking skills at the end of Year 5 – particularly for pupils who have ever been eligible for free school meals. However, there was no evidence of an impact on Key Stage 2 maths attainment when pupils were tested at the end of Year 6. Many of the schools in the trial did not fully implement ScratchMaths, particularly in Year 6, where teachers expressed concerns about the pressure of Key Stage 2 SATs. But there was no evidence that schools which did implement the programme had better maths results. Schools may be interested in ScratchMaths as an affordable way to cover aspects of the primary computing curriculum in maths lessons without any adverse effect on core maths outcomes. This trial, however, did not provide evidence that ScratchMaths is an effective way to improve maths outcomes

Agile in Teaching and Learning: Conceptual Framework and Research Agenda

Agile software development methods are widespread in industry, and there is a wealth of academic research and practitioner publications currently available from this perspective. With the rise of Agile within companies worldwide, it is increasingly important for information systems education to keep up with this trend to ensure curriculum and courses are up-to-date. Students in the computing disciplines must be prepared to enter a job market where Agile is commonplace. As such, the topic of Agile in teaching and learning is critically important. The current special issue includes a rich collection of articles providing information systems educators with research-based, practical approaches for both teaching Agile (“the what”) and using Agile as a pedagogical approach (“the how”). In an effort to assist information systems educators categorize the growing amount of literature related to Agile in teaching and learning, a conceptual framework is provided which places the literature along the two axes of pedagogy (“the how”) and the content (“the what”) ranging from other, non-Agile to Agile. Finally, the authors present a call for future research integrating Agile on a meta-level in the course development process. We hope that this special issue inspires educators and researchers to consider integrating Agile into their teaching and learning

Persepsi Mahasiswa terhadap Implementasi Metode Pair Programming pada Pembelajaran Mata Kuliah Pemrograman Dasar

Pemrograman dasar merupakan mata kuliah yang penting dalam mempelajari ilmu komputer terutama yang terkait dengan perancangan perangkat lunak atau aplikasi. Belajar pemrograman dianggap sebagai tugas yang sulit bagi sejumlah besar mahasiswa. Salah satu petode pembelajaran dalam pemrograman yang dipandang dapat meningkatkan kompetensi mahasiswa dalam belajar pemrograman adalah pair programming. Pair programming dipandang efektif ketika diimplementasikan dalam pembelajaran. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji persepsi mahasiswa dalam penerapan pair programming pada pembelajaran. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif dengan metode studi kasus. Peneliti mengananlisis persepsi mahasiswa dalam implementasi pair programming dalam pembelajaran Penelitian ini dilaksanakan di Universitas Muhammadiyah Sidoarjo (UMSIDA) pada mahasiswa Program Studi Pendidikan Teknologi Informasi (PTI) yang sedang mengampu mata kuliah Pemrograman Dasar. Hasil yang didapat dari penelitian ini adalah mahasiswa menyukai bekerja berpasangan Bersama rekan dalam tugas pemrograman. Mahasiswa juga puas dalam hasil akhir tugas pemrograman yang telah mereka selesaikan dengan menggunakan metode pair programming. Seluruh mahasiswa merasa lebih mudah dalam mengerjakan tugas pemrograman. Selain itu mahasiswa merasa ingin menerapkan metode pair programming dalam tugas pemrograman kedepannya. Secara keseluruhan persepesi mahasiswa pada penerapan metode pair programming memiliki hasil positif. Berdasarkan kajian hasil penelitian ini, metode pair programming akan direkomendasikan untuk diterapkan pada mata kuliah pemrograman dasar.