Is The Computer The Medium And The Message? A Comparison Of Student VB Programming Performance In Three Delivery Modes

As a third stage of research on delivery of a popular programming course at Metropolitan State College of Denver, the authors gathered data from an online section of CIS Application Programming with Visual Basic, two interactive classroom deliveries in campus smart classrooms, and in two traditional lecture-based sections of the course. The authors had previously completed research which showed significant differences in student ability to apply concepts learned in online sections and classroom sections of the Visual Basic programming class. The addition of interactive classrooms on campus allowed them to reexamine the relationship between performance and style of delivery.  The three modes of delivery--1) Web 2) Interactive Classroom and 3) Traditional Classroom--provided a rich source of data on student ability to apply theory. Data was gathered on a lab exam, a three phase semester-long programming project, and essay/coding problems on three in-class exams.  Data from the five sections of the Visual Basic course were analyzed. Although the results were not as conclusive as the authors had hoped, an analysis of variance showed significant differences in one of the three measurements of students ability to apply theory— the programming project.  A Fisher's pairwise comparison indicated that the Internet students performed significantly lower than students receiving the traditional classroom or interactive instruction method. The attrition rate for the Internet section was more than twice that of the other modes of delivery. Although the Interactive Classroom mode of delivery was not found to be significantly different, students did score slightly higher. All sections of the course used the same syllabus and assignments; the instructors used common examinations and rubrics for grading student assignments.  The authors conclude that an interactive environment, within an instructor-led "smart classroom ", is preferable to Web based delivery, and perhaps the traditional lecture-based method of delivering programming classes. This style of delivery is more apt to produce a student who can apply theory and produce working code.  As evidenced by performance on projects and subjective tests, students who participated in the interactive classroom sections were better able to apply programming theory to new situations. The authors caution that while traditional classroom delivery methods are well-established, Web courses and the interactive classrooms are still in their infancy. Further research is needed to verify their conclusions

Part Three - A Quality Online Educational Experience

This is the third in a series of three papers about online pedagogy and educational practice as part of the JISE “Online Education Forum.” This paper deals with the question: What approaches help assure a quality online educational experience? Clearly achieving quality is the chief concern of everyone involved with online education. This article focuses on techniques for doing that, such as mastering one’s course management system, standardizing course design, consistency in interactions with learners, and controlling class size. Another aspect of success here is developing a well-honed and consistent philosophy toward online teaching that will help learners understand what is expected of them and guide the teacher when unusual situations arise. A transition is underway. The same networking and computing technology that has revolutionized global commerce, and many other facets of modern life, is now being targeted in education. Partnering the Internet with modern course management technology makes it possible for universities to offer online coursework on a global basis. The critical task that lies ahead is to create and disseminate curricula of high quality that students can embrace and educators can sustain. The overall objective of JISE’s Online Education Forum is to examine the realities of college and university online teaching, and the processes of education using today’s information technologies. The issues and insights discussed in this Forum will provide educators with important tools and the understanding needed to embrace the world of online education

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