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

Visual and Textual Programming Languages: A Systematic Review of the Literature

It is well documented, and has been the topic of much research, that Computer Science courses tend to have higher than average drop out rates at third level. This is a problem that needs to be addressed with urgency but also caution. The required number of Computer Science graduates is growing every year but the number of graduates is not meeting this demand and one way that this problem can be alleviated is to encourage students at an early age towards studying Computer Science courses. This paper presents a systematic literature review on the role of visual and textual programming languages when learning to program, particularly as a first programming language. The approach is systematic, in that a structured search of electronic resources has been conducted, and the results are presented and quantitatively analysed. This study will give insight into whether or not the current approaches to teaching young learners programming are viable, and examines what we can do to increase the interest and retention of these students as they progress through their education.Comment: 18 pages (including 2 bibliography pages), 3 figure

Female Under-Representation in Computing Education and Industry - A Survey of Issues and Interventions

This survey paper examines the issue of female under-representation in computing education and industry, which has been shown from empirical studies to be a problem for over two decades. While various measures and intervention strategies have been implemented to increase the interest of girls in computing education and industry, the level of success has been discouraging. The primary contribution of this paper is to provide an analysis of the extensive research work in this area. It outlines the progressive decline in female representation in computing education. It also presents the key arguments that attempt to explain the decline and intervention strategies. We conclude that there is a need to further explore strategies that will encourage young female learners to interact more with computer educational games

Improving First-year Success and Retention through Interest-Based CS0 Courses

Many computer science programs suffer from low student retention rates. At Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, academic performance and retention rates among first year computer science students are among the lowest on campus. In order to remedy this, we have developed a new CS0 course featuring different tracks that students can choose from (e.g. robotics, gaming, music, mobile apps). This allows students to learn the basics of programming, teamwork, and college-level study in a domain that is of personal interest. In addition, the course relies on classic Project-based Learning (PBL) approaches as well as a focus on both academic and non-academic factors shown to increase student retention. Initial assessment demonstrates positive results in the form of increased academic performance in post CS0 courses and student retention

Gender Equality With Agile In Software Engineering

Women are under-represented in information technology careers in general and in the profession of software development in particular and their numbers are declining. Previous studies on this topic have investigated whether the reason for this is due to a difference in capability arising out of their gender, or whether the reason arises from social factors. A software development methodology called “Agile†has arisen in recent years which focus on collaboration, working software, and a sustainable workweek. Studies have shown that adopting Agile techniques in the classroom helps to retain women in computer information academic curricula and that adopting them in workplace teams improves communication across gender and ethnic diversity. This study invited women to speak for themselves as to whether they find Agile engineering techniques helpful in the workplace through the use of an online survey and follow-up interviews. The results revealed that women feel positively about these practices but have encountered some resistance to adopting them. Future studies discerning whether there are differences in the attitudes of men and women to these practices or whether there is a correlation between adoption of these practices and the number of women practicing as software developers in varying environments are logical future research topics to extend understanding in this are

A Study of Pair Programming Enjoyment and Attendance using Study Motivation and Strategy Metrics

We explore educational pair programming in a university context with high student autonomy and individual responsibility. The data comes from two separate introductory programming courses with optional pair programming assignments. We analyze lab attendance and course outcomes to determine whether students' previous programming experience or gender influence attendance. We further compare these statistics to self-reported data on study motivation, study strategies, and student enjoyment of pair programming. The influence of grading systems on pair programming behavior and course outcomes is also examined. Our results suggest that gender and previous programming experience correlate with participation in pair programming labs. At the same time, there are no significant differences in self-reported enjoyment of pair programming between any of the groups, and the results from commonly used study motivation and strategy questionnaires provide little insight into students/ actual behavior.Peer reviewe

Can Individual Code Reviews Improve Solo Programming on an Introductory Course?

Peer code reviews have been successfully applied to the teaching of programming and can be applied to solo programming. Collaborative approaches are currently popular and have been successfully applied though social interaction and assessment issues limit their application. It is believed that a checklist based individual code review can provide a framework which allows students to proofread their code prior to submission, improving performance. Pilot and follow-up studies were conducted at Swansea Metropolitan University and although the results are inconclusive some important observations are made with regards to the use of this technique. Further study into the effects of individual code reviews on student performance is recommended

Enhancing Software Development in the MIS Curriculum using Pair Programming

Management Information Systems (MIS) majors often must perfect their programming skills with one course which can be a daunting task. In an effort to enhance the software development abilities of MIS majors a pair programming lab experiment was conducted in an introductory software development course to determine if that technique would produce benefits for the MIS curriculum. Pair programming experiments are often performed with Computer Science majors but rarely with MIS majors. The researchers’ observations as well as participant’s responses to a survey questionnaire were analyzed after the experiment. The results indicated that pair programming may be beneficial as a pedagogical tool to a MIS students’ ability to create programs using high-level concepts. Additionally, researcher observations revealed pairs worked collaboratively to produce the program while actively communicating and enjoying the process

Identification and Evaluation of Predictors for Learning Success and of Models for Teaching Computer Programming in Contemporary Contexts

Introductory undergraduate computer programming courses are renowned for higher than average failure and withdrawal rates when compared to other subject areas. The closer partnership between higher education and the rapidly expanding digital technology industry, as demonstrated by the establishment of new Degree Apprenticeships in computer science and digital technologies, requires efficient and effective means for teaching programming skills. This research, therefore, aimed to identify reliable predictors of success in learning programming or vulnerability to failure. The research also aimed to evaluate teaching methods and remedial interventions towards recommending a teaching model that supported and engaged learners in contemporary contexts that were relevant to the workplace. Investigation of qualifications designed to prepare students for undergraduate computer science courses revealed that A-level entrants achieved significantly higher programming grades than BTEC students. However, there was little difference between the grades of those with and those without previous qualifications in computing or ICT subjects. Analysis of engagement metrics revealed a strong correlation between extent of co-operation and programming grade, in contrast to a weak correlation between programming grade and code understanding. Further analysis of video recordings, interviews and observational records distinguished between the type of communication that helped peers comprehend tasks and concepts, and other forms of communication that were only concerned with completing tasks. Following the introduction of periodic assessment, essentially converting a single final assessment to three staged summative assessment points, it was found that failing students often pass only one of the three assignment parts. Furthermore, only 10% of those who failed overall had attempted all three assignments. Reasons for failure were attributed to ‘surface’ motivations (such as regulating efforts to achieve a minimum pass of 40%), ineffective working habits or stressful personal circumstances rather than any fundamental difficulty encountered with subject material. A key contribution to pedagogical practice made by this research is to propose an ‘incremental’ teaching model. This model is informed by educational theory and empirical evidence and comprises short cycles of three activities: presenting new topic information, tasking students with a relevant exercise and then demonstrating and discussing the exercise solution. The effectiveness of this model is evidenced by increased engagement, increased quiz scores at the end of each teaching session and increased retention of code knowledge at the end of the course