Learning to Program: Going Pair-Shaped

Abstract

Students continue to struggle with learning to program. Not only has there been a significant drop in the number of students enrolling in IT courses, but the attrition rate for these courses continues to be significant. Introductory programming subjects in IT courses seem to be a stumbling block for many students. How do we best engage students in the learning of a programming language? How can our current teaching and learning methods be improved to provide a better experience for them?Issues that have a detrimental effect on students' learning outcomes include more than simply the cognitive. Although programming really is complex and difficult to learn, there are also cultural and social influences on students presenting to introductory computer science courses. This paper highlights the advantages of intensive collaboration between students by exploiting the students' own ability and desire to interact with their peers. Peer interaction can lead to very strong learning experiences. This paper reflects on the current approaches to teaching programming by the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Australia, with a short summary of the current focus of QUT's first programming subject and the methods used to teach it. An overview is then given of the web-based Environment for Learning to Program (ELP) which provides scaffolding for students while learning to program.The authors propose the introduction of tools to present a collaborative environment for students to actively engage in the course material through interaction with each other. Learning to Program IssuesProgramming is acknowledged by tertiary educators to be a complex and difficult intellectual activity, with students struggling through their first programming subject and educators struggling to teach it (Lahtinen E, Ala-Mutka K, & Järvinen H, 2005). The high attrition rate of first year programming students has for many years been a headache and controversial topic for learning institutions (Robins A, Rountree J, & Rountree N, 2003;Sheard J & Hagan D, 1998;Truong N, Bancroft P, & Roe P, 2003); one for which further insight would benefit both students and universities alike. However, the cause of poor performance in the programming classroom is not purely cognitive. Social DevelopmentIntroductory programming subjects are normally offered in the first semester of the first year of a bachelor degree, where the majority of the student cohort is new to university. The young university students are distracted and excited about entering the adult world, and enjoy many new freedoms not afforded them at school -where they ultimately assume the responsibility of the day to day management of their education. No dress codes, few rules, and they come and go virtually as they please. Unfortunately, there lies the trap. Settling into a productive university life seems to be a huge hurdle young students continue to face, and one that is exacerbated when one of the first subjects encountered in a computer science course at university is programming. I...

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