Masters Students' Experiences of Learning to Program: An Empirical Model

The investigation reported here examined how Masters students experience learning to program. The phenomenographic research approach adopted permitted the analysis of 1) how students go about learning to program, that is the ‘Act’ of learning to program, and 2) what students understand by ‘programming’, that is the ‘Object’ of learning to program. Analysis of data from twenty-three participants identified five different experiences of the Act of learning to program and five different experiences of the Object of learning to program. Together the findings comprise an empirical model of the learning to program experience amongst the participating students. We suggest how our findings are significant for programming teachers and offer tools to explore students’ views

Pair programming and the re-appropriation of individual tools for collaborative software development

Although pair programming is becoming more prevalent in software development, and a number of reports have been written about it [10] [13], few have addressed the manner in which pairing actually takes place [12]. Even fewer consider the methods used to manage issues such as role change or the communication of complex issues. This paper highlights the way resources designed for individuals are re-appropriated and augmented by pair programmers to facilitate collaboration. It also illustrates that pair verbalisations can augment the benefits of the collocated team, providing examples from ethnographic studies of pair programmers 'in the wild'

Computer Programming Aptitude Test as a Tool for Reducing Student Attrition

The stable trend to lose from one-third to half of students in the first study year of computing studies motivated us to explore, which methods are used to determine in advance such applicants, who have no change to overcome the first study year. Initially, a research about the factors influencing the attrition in Faculty of Computing at the University of Latvia was conducted. The research revealed that the trend of non-beginning studies might indicate the wrong choice of the study field and possible lack of understanding of what is programming by enrolled students (applicants as well as pupils).The study provides the review of the situation with programming aptitude tests in the world, which could serve as one of the solutions to the dropout reduction. An action plan is proposed, which is based on the exploration of students and evaluation of activities already conducted at the Faculty of Computing of the University of Latvia to reduce dropout (School of Young Programmers, Compensative Course in High School Mathematics, Mentoring programs). Moreover, the supplementation of these activities by one of the existing programming attitude tests (or a combination of several tests) or a necessity to develop a new similar test is considered

Computer Programming Aptitude Test as a Tool for Reducing Student Attrition

Submitted to the VTR conference to be held in Rezekne, June 2015The stable trend to lose from one-third to half of students in the first study year of computing studies motivated us to explore, which methods are used to determine in advance such applicants, who have no change to overcome the first study year. Initially, a research about the factors influencing the attrition in Faculty of Computing at the University of Latvia was conducted. The research revealed that the trend of non-beginning studies might indicate the wrong choice of the study field and possible lack of understanding of what is programming by enrolled students (applicants as well as pupils). The study provides the review of the situation with programming aptitude tests in the world, which could serve as one of the solutions to the dropout reduction. An action plan is proposed, which is based on the exploration of students and evaluation of activities already conducted at the Faculty of Computing of the University of Latvia to reduce dropout (School of Young Programmers, Compensative Course in High School Mathematics, Mentoring programs). Moreover, the supplementation of these activities by one of the existing programming attitude tests (or a combination of several tests) or a necessity to develop a new similar test is considered

Botbeans

Programming can be a daunting task from a beginner’s perspective. Since earlier times of computer programming, tools have been designed and developed in order to make programming friendlier to beginners. However the majority of these tools target beginners that are already motivated and have an idea of what computer programming is. This allows these tools to skip the initial requirements for learning how to program since these beginners will compensate with their motivation and effort. This thesis describes a learning tool called Botbeans. By using a new hybrid visual programming language with a tangible interface, Botbeans creates a highly motivating and collaboration friendly environment to present what is programming to a user that never had previously contact with it. The design and implementation of Botbeans are described and the results of some initial experiments with students are analysis.Aprender a programar pode ser uma tarefa difícil e assustadora do ponto de vista de um iniciante. Desde dos tempos iniciais da programação diversas ferramentas foram desenvolvidas com o intuito de tornar a aprendizagem da programação mais amigável a iniciantes. Algumas destas ferramentas têm como publico alvo iniciantes já altamente motivados para a programação e já com uma ideia do que esta é e para que serve. Isto permite a estas ferramentas saltar alguns dos pré-requisitos necessários para começar a aprender a programar, visto que este tipo de iniciante irá compensar com a sua motivação e empenho. Esta tese descreve uma ferramenta de aprendizagem chamada Botbeans que utilizando uma linguagem gráfica híbrida e uma interface tangível cria um ambiente altamente motivante para demonstrar o que é a programação e para que serve a um utilizador que nunca teve contacto com esta. O design e desenvolvimento do Botbeans são descritos ao longo da tese assim como os testes inicias já efectuados

Online self-learning

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Interactive Learning for Lower-Secondary Student: C++ Language

Interactive learning is one of the methods to acquire knowledge and information through hands on. It is the opposite of passive learning which is merely a process of observing a learning process or listening to knowledge or information. My Final Year Project, "Interactive Learning for Lower-Secondary Student: C++ Language", aims to provide a revolutionary learning process of learning programming language, specifically C++ language, through a simple and interactive way. Throughout this report, I will discuss in details on my project. This report will first describe the motivation and objective of my project, and also introduced the concept of Interactive Learning

Programming Prowess: Transform Your Library with Engaging Events

Innovative programming with a purpose can transform the perception of an academic library. Learn how to develop your programming prowess, from idea to implementation, at this engaging workshop. The presenter will demonstrate how library staff interests can drive creative programming and attract many participants, even while adhering to traditional library programming goals: drawing people to the physical building, its collections or services. Creative programming is often times surprising and newsworthy, so it has the potential to drive community and media attention to the library in a positive way. Attendees will hear about case studies of unconventional and traditional library programming. The presenter will share the development process of several ideas and the library staff behind the implementation. These examples will demonstrate how personal passions create new and exciting environments within libraries while partnering with campus and community groups. Additionally, social media integration and goals/objectives for these low to no-cost library programs will be discussed. Attendees will be inspired by successful academic library events, understand event programming concepts, and learn how to promote creativity among library staff in order to initiate program development. Attendees will also have the opportunity to develop creative programming ideas for their own academic libraries

Fifty years of the Psychology of Programming

This paper reflects on the evolution (past, present and future) of the ‘psychology of programming' over the 50 year period of this anniversary issue. The International Journal of Human-Computer Studies (IJHCS) has been a key venue for much seminal work in this field, including its first foundations, and we review the changing research concerns seen in publications over these five decades. We relate this thematic evolution to research taking place over the same period within more specialist communities, especially the Psychology of Programming Interest Group (PPIG), the Empirical Studies of Programming series (ESP), and the ongoing community in Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC). Many other communities have interacted with psychology of programming, both influenced by research published within the specialist groups, and in turn influencing research priorities. We end with an overview of the core theories that have been developed over this period, as an introductory resource for new researchers, and also with the authors’ own analysis of key priorities for future research