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Effectiveness of Using Interactive Technology in a Programming Course

Effectiveness of Using Interactive Technology in a Programming Course. Shyamal Mitra Department of Computer Sciences University of Texas at Austin. Outline. Problem Statement Active Learning Techniques Assessment Methodology Results Lessons Learned Conclusion. Problem Statement.

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Effectiveness of Using Interactive Technology in a Programming Course

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  1. Effectiveness of Using Interactive Technology in a Programming Course Shyamal Mitra Department of Computer Sciences University of Texas at Austin

  2. Outline • Problem Statement • Active Learning Techniques • Assessment Methodology • Results • Lessons Learned • Conclusion

  3. Problem Statement • CS 303E introductory programming course in Java for non-CS majors • Required course for the Elements of Computing Certificate • Largest section in the CS department with the highest drop rate • Students who drop view programming as too challenging

  4. Active Learning Techniques • Students learn better if they are lead through a series of activities that challenge them • Intersperse lecture with multiple choice questions • Use Classroom Performance System (CPS) to provide assess students’ responses and provide feedback

  5. Collaborators in this Study • Shyamal Mitra – CS • Roberto Lopez - CS • Dawn Zimmaro – MEC • Marc Johnson – MEC • Morrie Schulman - CIT

  6. Assessment Methodology - I • CS 303E course Summer 2004 involved 44 students • Course Survey – pre and post course survey using MSLQ questions • Additional self assessment questions at the beginning and end of class • Classroom Performance System (CPS)

  7. Assessment Methodology - II • Minute Paper at the end of class • Classroom observation • Focus Group • Performance on final exam – questions coded as CPS or non-CPS questions

  8. Results - I • Classroom observations • students more attentive • Student surveys • Significant decrease in the Motivation and Self-Efficacy scores • Students less confident in their abilities at the end of the semester • Focus Group • CPS was helpful if a detailed explanation of answer is also given

  9. Results - II • Minute Papers • CPS helped students who had already read through the material • CPS Performance • Average score was 50% • Final Exam Performance • Non-significant correlation between CPS and Final exam performance

  10. Lessons Learned • Use of CPS is positive – engages all students in the class and provides them with feedback • Greatest help to students who had done their reading assignments • To improve CPS performance add a small fraction of CPS scores to final grade

  11. Conculsion • CPS is an effective tool for engaging students but has limitations • time consuming • cannot deal with open-ended questions • cannot assess ability to write programs • Paper based on this study in Frontiers of Education Conference, 2005 • http://fie.engrng.pitt.edu/fie2005/index.htm

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