Research Article
Chin Soon Cheah
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 12, Issue 2, Article No: ep272
ABSTRACT
This paper reviews the literature relating to the factors that contribute to the difficulties in learning of computer programming. Programming has been a difficult subject to learn and master even at the early stage of education. It has been a global problem and continues to worsen at the local level. Although, there are many education tools available to complement the teaching and learning of computer programming. The problem persists until present day. Even at the initial stage of computer introduction courses, there were high failure rates and high drop out. One of the rationalism behind this scenario is from the students’ lack of problem solving abilities. However, the problem does not only lie within the students’ level of efficacy. It involves the effective use of teaching and learning material as well. Therefore, the focus of this review is on the factors concerning the students learning method and the effectiveness of the teaching material. Based on plethora of literature review, it is vital that these two aspects need to be consider simultaneously to overcome the difficulties of learning computer programming. A much more comprehensive, effective and universal teaching and learning tools need to be design to address the severity of this problem.
Keywords: computer programming, difficulties in programming, phases of programming, teaching materials
Research Article
Harun Cigdem
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 6, Issue 1, pp. 19-37
ABSTRACT
This study focuses on learners’ self-regulation which is one of the essential skills for student achievement in blended courses. Research on learners’ self-regulation skills in blended learning environments has gained popularity in recent years however only a few studies investigating the correlation between self-regulation skills and student achievement in blended learning environments exist. Self-regulation is related to self-efficacy, anxiety, interactivity, satisfaction with and usefulness of the system. Self-regulated learners are more likely to accomplish at online learning. In this study, a total of 267 military vocational college students were taught computer programming during a 15-week-long semester in a blended learning context, which involved using both face to face teaching and online learning through MOODLE over intranet. Participants were the graduates of vocational high schools and the students at the departments of Computer Technologies and Electronics & Communication Technologies and were all male. Liaw and Huang’s Self-Regulation Scale with six subscales was used to collect the data during the last two weeks of instruction. Regression analyses were conducted to analyze the data. The results revealed that self-regulation was affected by perceived anxiety, interactivity in the online learning environment, and perceived self-efficacy. Learners’ academic achievement has been affected only by perceived self-efficacy
Keywords: Blended learning, Computer programming course, Course achievement, Interactivity, Self-regulation, Perceived self-efficacy
Research Article
Murat Pasa Uysal
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 5, Issue 3, pp. 198-217
ABSTRACT
The introductory computer programming (CP) course has been taught for three decades in the faculty. Besides pursuing CP technology, one major goal has been enhancing learners’ problem-solving (PS) skills. However, the current situation has implied that this might not be the case. Therefore, a research was conducted to investigate the effects of a web-supported and well-structured PS instructional method on academic achievements and PS perceptions of learners. This was a quasi-experimental study with a posttest-only design that included a control group. While the web-supported and traditional approach was adopted for the control group, the experimental group was treated with the web-supported and well-structured PS method. A cluster random sampling was used and the existing 18 sections were randomly assigned to the study groups. Consequently, 6 faculty members and 433 freshman undergraduate students participated in the study for one semester. The students’ PS perceptions were assessed by the Problem Solving Inventory (PSI) and their CP performances were measured by an academic achievement test. The results indicated a significant difference between the groups in terms of CP achievements. Except for one factor of the PSI, there were also significant differences between the groups in terms of their PS perceptions.
Keywords: Instructional design, Problem-solving, Web-supported instruction, Computer programming