An Assessment of the Teaching-Learning Methodologies Used in the Introductory Programming Courses at a Brazilian University

Abstract

The teaching-learning methodology adopted in the Introduction to Computer Science classes may be a process that makes it difficult to understand the principles of programming language for undergraduate students in Computer Science and related areas, generating high failure and course drop out rates. This paper presents an analysis of the results obtained in the Introduction to Computer Science classes taught in Computer Science and Engineering courses at University of Brasília (UnB). The evaluation questionnaire answered by the undergraduate students in 2017 was analyzed, a validation was performed, and we checked the level of students satisfaction in relation to the evaluated subject and the association among the level of satisfaction, the percentage of practical activities of the discipline, student performance and the level of absenteeism.

Towards a New Definition of Blended Learning

“…E-learning has been a standard technique of education in developed countries for many years (Koponen, Tedre and Vesisenaho, 2011;Tan, Chew and Mellor, 2016). However, developing countries continue to struggle in reaping the benefit of such techniques (Atanda and Ahlan, 2014;Ansong, Boateng and Boateng, 2017;Canedo, Santos and Leite, 2018). This situation may be due to numerous reasons, such as lack of technical infrastructure, service availability, staff readiness and experts to build and manage such infrastructure, which has been the case for e-learning in many institutions including those in Iraq (Mahmod et al, 2017).…”

Predicting Computer Engineering students' dropout in Cuban Higher Education with pre-enrollment and early performance data

“…Tutoring and mentoring actions have proved to be successful retention strategies in different contexts (Alzen, Langdon & Otero, 2018;Araque et al, 2009;Elster, 2014;Graffigna, Hidalgo, Jofré, Berenguer, Moyano & Esteybar, 2014). Other authors propose the use of active teaching and learning methodologies (Canedo, Santos & Leite, 2018;Paimin, Prpic, Hadgraft & Alias, 2017;Zehetmeier, Axel, Bruggemann-Klein, Thurner & Schlierkamp, 2015). The role of technology and hands-on practices has also been highlighted in the literature (Kori, Pedaste, Niitsoo, Kuusik, Altin, Tõnisson et al, 2015), as well as the importance of psychological support (Ahmed, Kloot & Collier-Reed, 2015;Teixeira de Mello, de Melo & de Mello Filho, 2015).…”

Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, and Assessments for Introductory Programming Course

“…Once the paper is found, inclusion/exclusion of that paper has been decided after reading its abstract and then other parts of paper. After having examined selected papers thoroughly we identified five more studies [16], [17], [18], [19], [20] and totally added up to 60 primary studies.…”

“…Based on pedagogical benefits [19] Questionnaire C programming language was taught most, 59% students believe language choice facilitated their learning, 62% considered this language to be one of the most challenging.…”

“…The selected papers are empirically and qualitatively evaluated through multiple aspects. The novelty of our systematic literature review is that it provides a new classification criteria, IPC research targeting channels, IPC curricula [2], [49], programming language choice [4], [24], teaching and learning approaches [29], [45], assessment design [19], [21] and tools [23], [57], and approaches to address challenges faced by novice students after validating programming studies empirically. This SLR will help educators in development of standardized IPC learning environment together with curricula, teaching and learning tools, and effective assessment tools and design.…”