short-paper

Voluntary participation in discussion forums as an engagement indicator: an empirical study of teaching first-year programming

Authors:

Robert GoodwinAuthors Info & Claims

OzCHI '16: Proceedings of the 28th Australian Conference on Computer-Human Interaction

Pages 489 - 493

https://doi.org/10.1145/3010915.3010967

Published: 29 November 2016 Publication History

Abstract

Computer programming is a required skill for most STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) students. However, teaching novices programming has long been considered a big challenge by computer science educators as manifested by the observation that first-year programming topics tend to have a higher failure rate than other first-year topics. Existing studies have discovered that lack of engagement in learning programming is a key determinant of a student's poor performance. Therefore, it is beneficial to perceive a student's lack of engagement so that appropriate actions can be taken ahead of time. However, first year topics especially programming topics usually have very large enrolments, making it hard for a lecturer to keep track of each individual student's engagement level. As learning management systems (LMS) have been widely adopted by universities, in this paper we suggest using a student's voluntary participation in a programming topic's discussion forum provided by LMS as an engagement indicator so that the lecturer can constantly monitor and re-engage those who present low or no engagement. This recommendation is based on an empirical study of a first-year programming topic that reveals a positive correlation between one's voluntary participation in peer interaction through the topic's discussion forum and one's learning outcome in the topic.

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Cited By

Luxton-Reilly ASimon Albluwi IBecker BGiannakos MKumar AOtt LPaterson JScott MSheard JSzabo CRößling GScharlau B(2018)Introductory programming: a systematic literature reviewProceedings Companion of the 23rd Annual ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education10.1145/3293881.3295779(55-106)Online publication date: 2-Jul-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3293881.3295779

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cover image ACM Other conferences

OzCHI '16: Proceedings of the 28th Australian Conference on Computer-Human Interaction

November 2016

706 pages

ISBN:9781450346184

DOI:10.1145/3010915

Conference Chairs:
Henry Duh
University of Tasmania Christopher Lueg, University of Tasmania
,
Christopher Lueg
University of Tasmania
,
Program Chairs:
Mark Billinghust
University of South Australia
,
Weidong Huang
University of Tasmania

Copyright © 2016 ACM.

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IEEE-SMCS: Systems, Man & Cybernetics Society
Australian Comp Soc: Australian Computer Society
Data61: Data61, CSIRO
ICACHI: International Chinese Association of Computer Human Interaction
Infoxchange: Infoxchange
HITLab AU: Human Interface Technology Laboratory Australia
James Boag: James Boag
Tourism Tasmania: Tourism Tasmania
HFESA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia Inc.
IEEEVIC: IEEE Victorian Section
UTAS: University of Tasmania, Australia

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Published: 29 November 2016

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OzCHI '16

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IEEE-SMCS
Australian Comp Soc
Data61
ICACHI
Infoxchange
HITLab AU
James Boag
Tourism Tasmania
HFESA
IEEEVIC
UTAS

OzCHI '16: The 28th Australian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction

November 29 - December 2, 2016

Tasmania, Launceston, Australia

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Cited By

Luxton-Reilly ASimon Albluwi IBecker BGiannakos MKumar AOtt LPaterson JScott MSheard JSzabo CRößling GScharlau B(2018)Introductory programming: a systematic literature reviewProceedings Companion of the 23rd Annual ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education10.1145/3293881.3295779(55-106)Online publication date: 2-Jul-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3293881.3295779

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