research-article

Improving first-year success and retention through interest-based CS0 courses

Authors:

Michael Haungs,

Christopher Clark,

David JanzenAuthors Info & Claims

SIGCSE '12: Proceedings of the 43rd ACM technical symposium on Computer Science Education

Pages 589 - 594

https://doi.org/10.1145/2157136.2157307

Published: 29 February 2012 Publication History

Abstract

Many computer science programs suffer from low student retention rates. At Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, academic performance and retention rates among first-year computer science students are among the lowest on campus.

In order to remedy this, we have developed a new CS0 course featuring different "tracks" that students can choose from (e.g. robotics, gaming, music, mobile apps). This allows students to learn the basics of programming, teamwork, and college-level study in a domain that is of personal interest. In addition, the course relies on classic Project-based Learning (PBL) approaches as well as a focus on both academic and non-academic factors shown to increase student retention.

Initial assessment demonstrates positive results in the form of increased academic performance in post CS0 courses and student retention.

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Cited By

Toti GLindner PGao ABaghban Karimi OEngineer RHur JMcNeill FReckinger SRobinson RSollazzo AWicentowski RMonga MLonati VBarendsen ESheard JPaterson J(2025)Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Computing Science: Culture is the Key, Curriculum Contributes2024 Working Group Reports on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education10.1145/3689187.3709611(175-225)Online publication date: 22-Jan-2025
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3689187.3709611
Brodley CBarr VGunter EGuzdial MLibeskind-Hadas RManaris B(2024)ACM 2023: CS + X---Challenges and Opportunities in Developing Interdisciplinary-Computing CurriculaACM Inroads10.1145/368713115:3(42-50)Online publication date: 21-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3687131
Kazerouni ALehr JWood ZStephenson BStone JBattestilli LRebelsky SShoop L(2024)Community Action Computing: A Data-centric CS0 CourseProceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3626252.3630807(646-652)Online publication date: 7-Mar-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626252.3630807
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Index Terms

Improving first-year success and retention through interest-based CS0 courses
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education
      1. Computing education programs
        Computer science education

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

SIGCSE '12: Proceedings of the 43rd ACM technical symposium on Computer Science Education

February 2012

734 pages

ISBN:9781450310987

DOI:10.1145/2157136

Conference Chairs:
Laurie Smith King
College of the Holy Cross
,
David R. Musicant,
Program Chairs:
Tracy Camp
Colorado School of Mines
,
Paul Tymann
Rochester Institute of Technology

Copyright © 2012 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part 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. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 29 February 2012

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SIGCSE '12: The 43rd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

February 29 - March 3, 2012

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SIGCSE '12 Paper Acceptance Rate 100 of 289 submissions, 35%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 1,595 of 4,542 submissions, 35%

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Cited By

Toti GLindner PGao ABaghban Karimi OEngineer RHur JMcNeill FReckinger SRobinson RSollazzo AWicentowski RMonga MLonati VBarendsen ESheard JPaterson J(2025)Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Computing Science: Culture is the Key, Curriculum Contributes2024 Working Group Reports on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education10.1145/3689187.3709611(175-225)Online publication date: 22-Jan-2025
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3689187.3709611
Brodley CBarr VGunter EGuzdial MLibeskind-Hadas RManaris B(2024)ACM 2023: CS + X---Challenges and Opportunities in Developing Interdisciplinary-Computing CurriculaACM Inroads10.1145/368713115:3(42-50)Online publication date: 21-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3687131
Kazerouni ALehr JWood ZStephenson BStone JBattestilli LRebelsky SShoop L(2024)Community Action Computing: A Data-centric CS0 CourseProceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3626252.3630807(646-652)Online publication date: 7-Mar-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626252.3630807
Brodley CHescott BBiron JRessing APeiken MMaravetz SMislove AMerkle LDoyle MSheard JSoh LDorn B(2022)Broadening Participation in Computing via Ubiquitous Combined Majors (CS+X)Proceedings of the 53rd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education - Volume 110.1145/3478431.3499352(544-550)Online publication date: 22-Feb-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3478431.3499352
Ketenci TCalandra BCohen JRenken MChonoeva N(2022)An examination of middle school student learner characteristics as related to the reuse and remixing of code in two different computer science learning contextsJournal of Research on Technology in Education10.1080/15391523.2022.208521555:6(986-1002)Online publication date: 6-Jul-2022
https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2022.2085215
Works K(2021)Improving online lectures in distance learning CS0 courseJournal of Computing Sciences in Colleges10.5555/3447307.344732936:5(230-231)Online publication date: 12-Jan-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/3447307.3447329
Lunn SRoss MHazari ZWeiss MGeorgiopoulos MChristensen K(2021)How Do Educational Experiences Predict Computing Identity?ACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/347065322:2(1-28)Online publication date: 1-Nov-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3470653
Lorås MSindre GTrætteberg HAalberg T(2021)Study Behavior in Computing Education—A Systematic Literature ReviewACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/346912922:1(1-40)Online publication date: 18-Oct-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3469129
Sharmin S(2021)Creativity in CS1: A Literature ReviewACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/345999522:2(1-26)Online publication date: 1-Nov-2021
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Rahman FTyagi JLunt BHansen DMorrey P(2021)Investigating the Role of Different Prep Pathways on CS2 Performance Across Three Different MajorsProceedings of the 22nd Annual Conference on Information Technology Education10.1145/3450329.3476851(141-146)Online publication date: 6-Oct-2021
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