No abstract

Over the last few decades, computer programming has become an important field of endeavor due to rapid development in the information sector. Despite the importance of programming, there is a growing concern that it is relatively difficult. In the process, researchers have started employing media tools to reduce programming difficulties and motivate learners to approach programming problems. One of the common tools widely used is program animation—an instructional medium that incorporates animated characters. However, little is known about the research trends in this field of study. This article, therefore, employed a systematic mapping method to review this trend to find patterns and gaps left in the literature. The study extracted 48 articles published between 2000 and 2022 from four scientific databases (Web of Science, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and ERIC) and three digital libraries (ACM Digital Library, IEEE Xplore Digital Library, and Wiley Online Library). The review discovered important trends. First, there is a paucity of research evidence evaluating program animation in the context of secondary and elementary levels; the majority of the extracted studies focused on participants from tertiary institutions. A similar paucity of research evidence employing mixed methods and qualitative approaches was also noted. Scratch programs were used in recent research more often than other program animations. There is also too little evaluation of psychomotor variables. Finally, there exist inconsistent findings on the effect of program animation although plenty of studies revealed positive results in favor of these media tools. The study therefore recommends that future research should be conducted to fill these identified gaps.

This paper outlines briefly, some views of the term “ Educational Technology” and its role generally in the field of education as evident from research findings. The urgent need for low-cost educational technology for schools and colleges in Nigeria is discussed. Attention is also drawn to the need to re-orient the teacher to his task, if new methods and media are to be used successfully. Finally, it is further suggested that future use of the achieved methods and media may differ radically depending among other things on the objectives to be achieved and the en­try behaviour of the students, particularly when we employ the low-cost educational technology for effective learning hnd teaching. The importance of an Educational Resource Centre, and Teachers’ Resource Centre are among other things strongly suggested.

Studies examining students' learningbehavior predominantly employed rich video data as their main source of information due to the limited knowledge of computer vision and deep learning algorithms. However, one of the challenges faced during such observation is the strenuous task of coding large amounts of video data through repeated viewings. In this research, we con rm the possibilities of classifying students' learning behavior using data obtained from multimodal distribution. We employed computer algorithms to classify students' learning behavior in animated programming classrooms and used information from this classi cation to predict learning outcomes. Speci cally, our study indicates the presence of three clusters of students in the domain of "stay active", "stay passive", and "to-passive". We also found a relationship between these pro les and learning outcomes. We discussed our ndings in accordance with the engagement and instructional quality models and believed that our statistical approach will support the ongoing re nement of the models in the context of behavioral pro ling and classroom interaction. We recommend that further studies should identify different epistemological frames in diverse classroom settings to provide su cient explanations of students' learning processes.