Addressing drop-out and sustained effort issues with large practical groups using an automated delivery and assessment system

Abstract

Abstract:The acquisition of programming skills specially in introductory programming courses poses an important challenge for freshmen students of engineering programs. These courses require students to devote a sustained effort during the whole course and a failure to do so may contribute to not passing the course. However, it is difficult for the teaching staff to deploy measures to enforce a pattern of continuous work without significantly increasing the required management tasks. A significant reduction of this workload can be achieved with the automation of time consuming tasks such as the delivery of activities or submission grading. This paper presents a case of study where a technology based orchestration of learning scripts was applied in a large enrollment course to promote student sustained effort through the course and keep the workload on teaching staff within reasonable margins. The orchestration system, based on IMS Learning Design and Generic Service Integration, automatically evaluated the student submissions and gradually unlocked the following activities depending on the received results. Such system was used during a semester supporting 425 students and 8 instructors. The analysis of the case of study followed a mixed method based on qualitative and quantitative data, and revealed a significant reduction of the orchestration workload on the teaching staff, allowing the strategy of continuous work to be applied in a course with high enrollment. Additionally, the application of these techniques show statistically significant differences in the drop out rate with respect to previous editions of the course.

Prediction of Student Final Exam Performance in an Introductory Programming Course: Development and Validation of the Use of a Support Vector Machine-Regression Model

“…Notably, students who achieve high score in homework assessments perform significantly better in the final exam than those who do not (Veerasamy;D'Souza;Lindén;Kaila;Laakso;& Salakoski, 2016). In addition, homework is an important determinant of student final exam marks (Veerasamy;D'Souza;Lindén;Kaila;Laakso;& Salakoski, 2016; de-la-Fuente-Valentín, Pardo, & Kloos, 2013). Similarly, a review of literature review related to homework in programming courses indicates that homework has a positive effect on student learning outcomes and can be considered as the significant predictor of learning achievement (Su, Huang, Yang, Ding, & Hsieh, 2015).…”

“…Keeping these points in mind, the objective of the research reported in this paper is to develop a predictive model with selected predictor variables using data mining techniques to predict student performance and at-risk students in a programming course (at university level) to make proactive measures in teaching and learning. courses for novices and the difficulty of learning to program also dissuades students from other programs to avoid taking programming and to select alternative courses (de-la-Fuente-Valentín, Pardo, & Kloos, 2013;Ali & Smith, 2014). Many teaching techniques and educational technologies have been developed by researchers to improve student learning outcomes in programming (Borra & Ciaccio, 2010).…”

Using Technology to Support Teaching Computer Science: A Study with Middle School Students

“…Thus, exploring the potential of technology for improving teachers' understanding of student misconceptions can be important. In computer science education, one widely used instructional tool is the automated assessment system (De-La-Fuente-Valentín, Pardo, & Delgado Kloos, 2013;Douce, Livingstone, & Orwell, 2005). An automated assessment system is a tool that can automatically evaluate the correctness of students' programs by applying certain assessment techniques and algorithms.…”

An Educational Data Mining Model for Predicting Student Performance in Programming Course

“…High failure rates were reported among in introductory programming courses poses an important challenge for freshmen students of many programs. These courses require students to devote a sustained effort during the whole course and a failure to do so may students taking programming courses [20][21][22].…”