Revisiting why students drop CS1

Petersen, Andrew; Craig, Michelle; Campbell, Jennifer; Tafliovich, Anya

doi:10.1145/2999541.2999552

Cited by 79 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…One of the points where students may decide to drop out of computer science is the introductory programming course [29]. Here, reasons for dropping out include lack of time, lack of motivation, difficulty, lack of help, and not fitting in [12], as well as missing meaningful study strategies and prioritization [26]. While looking only at the introductory programming course provides a one-sided view to the broader issue of retention, focused teaching effort in the course may lead to improved study success in subsequent courses [11].…”

Section: Retention In Computer Science Programsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research literature suggests that nearly onethird of students in introductory programming courses fail the course [3,30,35]. Reasons for failing or dropping out from the course vary, ranging from motivational factors to the complexity of the subject [7,12,26]. As a noticeable amount of students fail the Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Admitting Students through an Open Online Course in Programming

Leinonen

Ihantola

Leinonen

et al. 2019

Proceedings of the 2019 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research

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Since 2012, part of computer science student body at the University of Helsinki has been selected by using a massively open online version of the same introductory programming course that our freshmen take. In this multi-year study, we compare study success between students accepted through the online course (MOOC intake) and students accepted through the traditional entrance exam and high school matriculation exam based intake (normal intake). Our findings indicate that the MOOC intake perform better in computer science studies when looking at completed credits and grade point average, but there is no difference when considering other courses. Retention among the MOOC intake is better than among the normal intake. Additionally, students in the MOOC intake are more likely to complete their capstone project and Bachelor's thesis in the studied time-frame. However, the MOOC intake makes the already skewed gender balance more pronounced. CCS CONCEPTS • Social and professional topics → Computing education.

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Section: Retention In Computer Science Programsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Admitting Students through an Open Online Course in Programming

Leinonen

Ihantola

Leinonen

et al. 2019

Proceedings of the 2019 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…At the same time, recruiting and retention of a diverse student body, particularly women and students from underrepresented populations, into computing and STEM careers remains a complex challenge involving broad differences in student preparation, cultures and needs, see [5], [12]. For a study on various reasons why students drop out of introductory computer science courses, see [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Data-driven Curricular Decisions in Introductory Computing Classes

Bonfert-Taylor¹,

Oeztuerk²,

Servoz³

2018 ASEE Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

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“…Unfortunately, CS1 courses have many well-known issues: low grades, high stress, low retention, and high drop rates. [1], [2]. A 2014 report by Watson and Li [3] showed that over the past 30 years, CS1 classes have had a rather-high non-passing rate of 30%.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analyzing Pivoting Among Weekly Many Small Programs in a CS1 Course

Allen

Vahid

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access Proceedings

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In Fall 2018, our university fully switched from using a weekly one large program (OLP) approach to using a many small programs (MSP) approach in our CS1 course, utilizing a program auto-grader with immediate points feedback and partial credit possible. The switch led to positive results such as an increase in student grade performance and a reduction of student stress. We also saw students making good use of MSPs in their learning, such as spending sufficient time programming each week, and starting earlier on programming assignments. A unique benefit of MSPs is the ability for students to pivot, meaning to switch among programs if they get stuck. This paper investigates such pivoting, and seeks to answer common questions related to pivoting. We analyze how many students pivot and the number of pivots done each week. Given a full-credit threshold (50 of 70 points on 7 programs worth 10 points each with partial credit possible), we examine how students complete the subset of required points. We compare pivot data between a class with a full-credit threshold and a class without. We examine whether students who pivot eventually return to the program from which they pivoted, or if they leave the program unsolved. Finally, we analyze student workflow to observe various pivot patterns. By analyzing student pivot behavior, we hope the community can better understand the pros and cons of pivoting, to help decide whether to adopt an MSP approach and possibly a full-credit threshold. auto-grader was released in 2016, over 500 courses (mostly CS1) have started using an auto-grader that did not before. With the benefits these auto-graders offer, many instructors are creating and assigning many small programs (MSPs) per week, rather than the more common one large program (OLP) per week. A previous work [9] summarized a study that showed how MSPs led to happier, less-stressed students, while also improving programming scores on exams, likely due to students having more practice on focused concepts. A later study [10] showed that MSPs lead to students spending good time each week working on their programming assignments, starting to work early on programming assignments, using more programs to study for exams, and a few other benefits. Additionally, that same study also found that using an MSP approach in CS1 did not harm student performance in CS2, in fact, the MSP students performed slightly better in CS2 than OLP students. Since the publication of those studies, our university has fully switched to using MSPs in all CS1 offerings. This paper's purpose is to answer various questions related to the unique benefit that MSPs offer: the ability for students to pivot, meaning to switch from one program to another if stuck. Section 2 describes our methodology. Section 3 introduces our pivot analysis. Section 4 addresses "How many times do students pivot each week?" Section 5 addresses "What percent of students pivot each week?" Section 6 addresses "What are some observed pivot patterns?" Section 7 addresses "Do students pivot more...

show abstract

Revisiting why students drop CS1

Cited by 79 publications

References 23 publications

Admitting Students through an Open Online Course in Programming

Admitting Students through an Open Online Course in Programming

Data-driven Curricular Decisions in Introductory Computing Classes

Analyzing Pivoting Among Weekly Many Small Programs in a CS1 Course

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