Self-regulated learning in higher education: strategies adopted by computer programming students when supported by the SimProgramming approach

Abstract

The goal of the SimProgramming approach is to help students overcome their learning difficulties in the transition from entry-level to advanced computer programming, developing an appropriate set of learning strategies. We implemented it at the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (Portugal), in two courses (PM3 and PM4) of the bachelor programmes in Informatics Engineering and ICT. We conducted semi-structured interviews with students (n=38) at the end of the courses, to identify the students' strategies for self-regulation of learning in the assignment. We found that students changed some of their strategies from one course edition to the following one and that changes are related to the SimProgramming approach. We believe that changes to the educational approach were appropriate to support the assignment goals. We recommend applying the SimProgramming approach in other educational contexts, to improve educational practices by including techniques to help students in their learning.

Self-regulated Learning in Computer Programming: Strategies Students Adopted During an Assignment

“…However, only some students did a more thorough self-reflection about their performance. This confirms the need to help students become aware of the strategies that they can take to improve self-regulated learning [37]. Interestingly, as a team, the students reflected with significant detail about their performance.…”

“…They also mentioned strategies for resolution of difficulties, identifying difficulties in time management and difficulties in assignment, and factors influencing their motivation -strategies that had also been identified in our earlier work [37]. This highlights the difficulties students feel managing their time because of tasks and tests they need to account for in the various courses throughout the semester.…”

“…Some students mentioned in the weekly forms the adoption of transformation strategies and showed that they were aware of their specific difficulties in the tasks, aspects that were not reported so often in our previous work [37].…”

“…We assigned to each team a specific problem involving a MVC-related software architecture in order to stimulate and foster advanced programming skills in students. Students must develop a written document with a detailed explanation of the coding approaches they used to apply an MVC related architectural style to specific frameworks, libraries, and/or APIs [3,4,16,37].…”

SimProgramming: uma abordagem motivacional para a aprendizagem de alunos intermediários de programação

“…A abordagem foi estendida, no âmbito de outro doutorado [Pedrosa 2017], sendo desenvolvida em outra unidade curricular da UTAD, denominada "Metodologias de Programação IV" (MPIV) [Pedrosa et al 2016a] [Pedrosa et al 2016b] . A abordagem ainda foi adaptada na unidade curricular "Plataformas Sociais e Colaborativas", também da UTAD, além de ter sido transposta para a modalidade a distância, no âmbito de um mestrado, numa unidade curricular denominada "Desenvolvimento de Software" num curso de graduação a distância na Universidade Aberta em Portugal.…”