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McCall, Davin. "Novice programmer errors : analysis and diagnostics." Thesis, University of Kent, 2016. https://kar.kent.ac.uk/61340/.
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All programmers make errors when writing program code, and for novices the difficulty of repairing errors can be frustrating and demoralising. It is widely recognised that compiler error diagnostics can be inaccurate, imprecise, or otherwise difficult for novices to comprehend, and many approaches to mitigating the difficulty of dealing with errors are centered around the production of diagnostic messages with improved accuracy and precision, and revised wording considered more suitable for novices. These efforts have shown limited success, partially due to uncertainty surrounding the types of error that students actually have the most difficulty with - which has most commonly been assessed by categorising them according to the diagnostic message already produced - and a traditional approach to the error diagnosis process which has known limitations. In this thesis we detail a systematic and thorough approach both to analysing which errors that are most problematic for students, and to automated diagnosis of errors. We detail a methodology for developing a category schema for errors and for classifying individual errors in student programs according to such a schema. We show that this classification results in a different picture of the distribution of error types when compared to a classification according to diagnostic messages. We formally define the severity of an error type as a product of its frequency and difficulty, and by using repair time as an indicator of difficulty we show that error types rank differently via severity than they do by frequency alone. Having developed a ranking of errors according to severity, we then investigate the contextual information within source code that experienced programmers can use to more accurately and precisely classify errors than compiler tools typically do. We show that, for a number of more severe errors, these techniques can be applied in an automated tool to provide better diagnostics than are provided by traditional compilers.
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Nevins, Cole. "The effect of correspondence highlighting on novice programmer instruction." Pullman, Wash. : Washington State University, 2009. http://www.dissertations.wsu.edu/Thesis/Spring2009/c_nevins_042409.pdf.
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Thesis (M.S. in computer science)--Washington State University, May 2009.Title from PDF title page (viewed on May 26, 2009). "School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science." Includes bibliographical references (p. 64-72).
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Alameh, Rola. "Investigating the effects of HPC novice programmer variations on code performance." College Park, Md.: University of Maryland, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1903/7783.
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Thesis (M.S.) -- University of Maryland, College Park, 2007.Thesis research directed by: Dept. of Computer Science. Title from t.p. of PDF. Includes bibliographical references. Published by UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also available in paper.
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Seals, Cheryl Denise. "A framework for Learning and Reuse in Visual Programming Environments: Supporting Novice Programmer Development of Educational Simulations." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/28766.
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Incorporating computers into daily K-12 classroom teaching promises to benefit student learning, and improve teaching practice substantially. Computer enhanced curricula may enable more teachers to create exploratory and inquiry based lessons, but in most cases supporting software have only been realized as practice tools for specific rote learning skills. Drills do little to help students develop higher-order reasoning and problem-solving skills. With more computers in the classroom, the assumption was that computers would be integrated into curricula with a high usage of educational software, but research suggests that this assumption has not been borne out (Powell & Okey, 1994; Tyack & Cuban, 1995). Our general argument is that systems whose usability characteristics have been designed to meet teachers" needs and that can be easily tailored to meet specific teaching objectives are more likely to be incorporated into everyday teaching practices.
One type of computer-based activity that enables teachers to engage students in exploratory learning is an educational simulation. Many educational software packages that build simulations have limited usability because they have unmodifiable, limited modifiable or difficult-to-modify functionality. Still others are useful, but are too expensive for many schools to afford. These packages fall short of achieving the ultimate goal of providing useful classroom simulation technology " providing teachers with the option of building simulations from scratch or reusing existing simulations by adapting their functionality.
Because teachers have limited time to learn new technology or develop new simulations, this research focused on developing a new framework that would help teachers create easily adaptable and reusable customized educational materials, encouraging them to use these materials to build and extend simulations in collaboration with their students. We began our study by analyzing the currently available tools for visual construction of educational simulations; we used the results of these analyses to develop an alternative environment"SimBuilder. This environment was designed to address the general usability and programming style issues observed in our analysis of other tools. A minimalist self-study tutorial was designed to support rapid start-up and use of the SimBuilder. Through a comparative analysis using a state-of-the-art environment (AgentSheets) that collected a wide range of quantitative and qualitative measures of learning, programming style, usability, motivation, and strategies for code reuse, we determined that SimBuilder offers an improved environment for teachers to construct educational simulations.Ph. D.
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Porter, Ronald, and ron porter@infoeng flinders edu au. "Design Patterns in Learning to Program." Flinders University. Informatics and Engineering, 2006. http://catalogue.flinders.edu.au./local/adt/public/adt-SFU20061127.153554.
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This thesis argues the case for the use of a pattern language based on the basic features of the programming language used in instruction for the teaching of programming. We believe that the difficulties that novices are known to have encountered with the task of learning to program ever since the inception of computers derive from a basic misfit between the language used to communicate with a computer, the programming language, and the way that humans think. The
thrust of the pattern language idea is that patterns are the essential element in understanding how the mind words in that they are the source of that relationship that we call `meaning'. What an entity or event `means' to us derives from the effect that it has on us as living biological beings, a relationship that exists in the `real world', not from any linguistic relationship at the symbolic level.
Meaning, as a real world relationship, derives from the patterns of interactions that constitute being. The meaning that an entity has for an individual is more than can be expressed in a formal definition, definitions are matters of agreement, convention, not the pattern of experience that the individual has acquired
through living. What is missing for a novice in any skill acquisition process is meaning, the pattern of experience. All that we can give them using a formal linguistic system like a programming language is definitions, not meaning. Pattern language is the way that we think because it exists at that fundamental level of experience as living beings. The patterns of experience become the patterns of thought through recurrence, not through definition. But this takes time, so in
presenting new material to a person trying to learn, we have to present it in the form of a pattern language, the 'cognitive map' that drives the problem solving process. Creativity is always a function of combining ideas, what is really being created is new meaning, not a program, or a house, or a poem, or a sculpture - these things are mere implementations of meaning. Ultimately meaning can derive only from experience, the pattern of life around us, so creativity is the language of experience, pattern language. The mind is the product of experience, creativity its modus operandi.
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Coull, Natalie J. "SNOOPIE : development of a learning support tool for novice programmers within a conceptual framework." Thesis, St Andrews, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/522.
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Clarke, Anthony. "Instructional methods for novice programmers." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1989. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/28166.
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Computer programming is a relatively new phenomenon. Instructional methods in response to this new pedagogy have been many and varied. In the critical interplay between teacher and learner, the learners' perception of the instructional environment is perhaps one of the most important yet least understood variables. Little research has been devoted to understanding the learners' perceptions of the different instructional methods advocated. This study provides an insight into the students' perceptions of two instructional methods, and thus extends the knowledge base for decision making about learning environments for novice programmers.
An introductory computer programming class of sixteen university students was divided into two groups, one to experience the Lecture-lab approach (teacher centred) and the other the Guided Self-discovery approach (student centred). To ensure an even balance of abilities between the two groups, student allocation was based on a test of programming ability and a test of field independence. During the study students completed two attitude questionnaires, three tests of programming ability and a log sheet for every class. At the conclusion of the experimentation period, eight of the sixteen students were interviewed.
The results of the statistical (Pearson's correlation coefficient, t-tests) and interview analysis indicated that novice programmers prefer an instructional framework based on: a teaching style that allows active student participation and substantial student-teacher interactions, a learning environment that allows student exploration and substantial student-student interactions, and resource materials that include regular work sheet.Education, Faculty of
Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of
Graduate
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Citron, Judith Linda. "Cognitive processes of novice computer programmers." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 1985. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10019556/.
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de, Raadt Michael. "Teaching programming strategies explicitly to novice programmers." University of Southern Queensland, Faculty of Business, 2008. http://eprints.usq.edu.au/archive/00004827/.
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[Abstract]: The traditional approach to training novice programmers has been to provide explicit programming knowledge instruction but to rely on implicit instruction of programming strategies. Studies, reported in literature, have discovered universally poor results on standardised tests for novices studying under this traditional approach.This dissertation describes the explicit integration of programming strategies into instruction and assessment of novice programmers, and the impact of this change ontheir learning outcomes.An initial experiment was used to measure the performance of students studying under a traditional curriculum with implicitly taught programming strategies. Thisexperiment uncovered common flaws in the strategy skills of novices and revealed weaknesses in the curriculum. Incorporation of explicit strategy instruction wasproposed.To validate a model of strategies as being authentic and appropriate for novice instruction, an experiment with experts was conducted. Experts were asked to solvethree problems that a novice would typically be expected to solve at the end of an introductory programming course. Experts‟ solutions were analysed using Goal/PlanAnalysis and it was discovered that experts consistently applied plans, the subalgorithmic strategies suggested by Soloway (1986). It was proposed that plans could be adapted for explicit inclusion in an introductory programming curriculum.Initially a curriculum incorporating explicit strategy instruction was tested in an artificial setting with a small number of volunteers, divided into control andexperimental groups. The control group was taught using a simplified traditional curriculum and the experimental group were exposed to a curriculum which explicitly included programming strategies. Testing revealed that experimental group participants applied plans more than control group participants, who had been expected to learn these strategies implicitly. In interviews, experimental participants used strategy-related terminology and were more confident in the solutions they had created. These results justified a trial of the curriculum in an actual introductory programming course.When explicit instruction of programming strategies was incorporated into an actual introductory programming curriculum, novices achieved superior results whencompared to results from the initial experiment. Novices used strategies significantly more when these strategies were incorporated explicitly into instructional materialsand assessment items.This series of experiments focussed on explicitly teaching specific programming strategies rather than teaching problem-solving more generally. These experimentalresults demonstrate that explicit incorporation of programming strategies may improve outcomes for novices and potentially improve the potential of expertprogrammers in future.
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Milner, Walter William. "Concept development in novice programmers learning Java." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2011. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/1670/.
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It is hypothesised that the development of concepts in formal education can be understood through the ideas of non-literal language and conceptual integration networks. The notions of concept, understanding and meaning are examined in some depth from philosophical, psychological and linguistic standpoints. The view that most concepts are grasped through non-literal means such as metaphor and conceptual blend is adopted. The central contention is that this applies both to everyday ideas and to those presented to students in formal educational contexts, and that consequently such learning is best seen in those terms. Such learning is not founded upon literal language, but a construction by the student of a complex network of metaphor and conceptual blends. This is examined in the context of students learning programming, in particular in the language Java. The hypothesis is tested by analysing transcribed interviews with a wide range of students, triangulated with an examination of teaching materials, and the data is shown to be consistent with the hypothesis. However the approach is fundamental and is not concerned with specific features of programming or Java, so that conclusions are relevant across a wide range of disciplines, especially mathematics, science and engineering. The thesis provides a new way of examining course design and learning materials including lectures and textbooks. Discourse which might seem to be literal is in fact metaphorical and blended, since it is in that way that the expert community understands the ideas. The students’ construction of corresponding blends is on the basis of their learning experience, and course design features such as examples can be explained and evaluated in such terms.
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Truong, Nghi Khue Dinh. "A web-based programming environment for novice programmers." Queensland University of Technology, 2007. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/16471/.
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Learning to program is acknowledged to be difficult; programming is a complex intellectual activity and cannot be learnt without practice. Research has shown that first year IT students presently struggle with setting up compilers, learning how to use a programming editor and understanding abstract programming concepts. Large introductory class sizes pose a great challenge for instructors in providing timely, individualised feedback and guidance for students when they do their practice. This research investigates the problems and identifies solutions. An interactive and constructive web-based programming environment is designed to help beginning students learn to program in high-level, object-oriented programming languages such as Java and C#. The environment eliminates common starting hurdles for novice programmers and gives them the opportunity to successfully produce working programs at the earliest stage of their study. The environment allows students to undertake programming exercises anytime, anywhere, by "filling in the gaps" of a partial computer program presented in a web page, and enables them to receive guidance in getting their programs to compile and run. Feedback on quality and correctness is provided through a program analysis framework. Students learn by doing, receiving feedback and reflecting - all through the web. A key novel aspect of the environment is its capability in supporting small "fill in the gap" programming exercises. This type of exercise places a stronger emphasis on developing students' reading and code comprehension skills than the traditional approach of writing a complete program from scratch. It allows students to concentrate on critical dimensions of the problem to be solved and reduces the complexity of writing programs.
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Buyrukoglu, Selim. "Semi-automated assessment of programming languages for novice programmers." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2018. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/33669.
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There has recently been an increased emphasis on the importance of learning programming languages, not only in higher education but also in secondary schools. Students of a variety of departments such as physics, mathematics and engineering have also started learning programming languages as part of their academic courses. Assessment of students programming solutions is therefore important for developing their programming skills. Many Computer Based Assessment (CBA) systems utilise multiple-choice questions (MCQ) to evaluate students performance. However, MCQs lack the ability to comprehensively assess students knowledge. Thus, other forms of programming solutions are required to assess students knowledge. This research aims to develop a semi-automated assessment framework for novice programmers, utilising a computer to support the marking process. The research also focuses on ensuring the consistency of feedback. A novel marking process model is developed based on the semi-automated assessment approach which supports a new way of marking, termed segmented marking . A study is carried out to investigate and demonstrate the feasibility of the segmented marking technique. In addition, the new marking process model is developed based on the results of the feasibility study, and two novel marking process models are presented based on segmented marking, namely the full-marking and partial-marking process models. The Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) cycle is adopted in the marking process models in order to ensure the consistency of feedback. User interfaces of the prototype marking tools (full and partial) are designed and developed based on the marking process models and the user interface design requirements. The experimental results show that the full and partial marking techniques are feasible for use in formative assessment. Furthermore, the results also highlight that the tools are capable of providing consistent and personalised feedback and that they considerably reduce markers workload.
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Bertholf, Christopher Forrest. "Comprehension of Literate Programs by Novice and Intermediate Programmers." PDXScholar, 1993. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/4572.
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The studies reported herein compare comprehension of Ut style literate programs to that of traditional modular programs documented by embedded comments. Novice and intermediate programmers participated in three experiments designed to determine the comprehensibility of literate programs written using a language-independent system for abstraction-oriented literate programming compared with programs written using traditional modular programming techniques (traditional modular programs). Programs were written in either the C or FORTRAN programming language. Half of the subjects in each group received a literate program, while the other half received a traditional modular program with embedded documentation. Subjects received a problem specification, input and output specifications, and a language reference for use in the study. Subjects were asked to perform a program maintenance task (complete an incomplete program). The maintenance task was used as a measure of comprehension; it simulates an actual task in the software engineering industry that requires program comprehension in order to be completed. The elapsed time to effect a solution was recorded. The completed programs were judged as correct, functionally correct with syntax errors, or incorrect; several reconstructive program comprehension measures were also collected and analyzed_ The clear overall result was that subjects using the literate programs found a solution (correct or functionally correct with syntax errors) more often than did subjects using the traditional modular programs with embedded comments. In fact, none of the subjects in this study who modified the traditional programs were able to effect a solution that was totally correct, nor even one that was functionally correct with syntax errors.
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Tula, Naveen. "An Empirical Study of How Novice Programmers Use the Web." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2016. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc849754/.
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Students often use the web as a source of help for problems that they encounter on programming assignments.In this work, we seek to understand how students use the web to search for help on their assignments.We used a mixed methods approach with 344 students who complete a survey and 41 students who participate in a focus group meetings and helped in recording data about their search habits.The survey reveals data about student reported search habits while the focus group uses a web browser plug-in to record actual search patterns.We examine the results collectively and as broken down by class year.Survey results show that at least 2/3 of the students from each class year rely on search engines to locate resources for help with their programming bugs in at least half of their assignments;search habits vary by class year;and the value of different types of resources such as tutorials and forums varies by class year.Focus group results exposes the high frequency web sites used by the students in solving their programming assignments.
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Prather, James. "Beyond Automated Assessment: Building Metacognitive Awareness in Novice Programmers in CS1." Diss., NSUWorks, 2018. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/gscis_etd/1030.
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The primary task of learning to program in introductory computer science courses (CS1) cognitively overloads novices and must be better supported. Several recent studies have attempted to address this problem by understanding the role of metacognitive awareness in novices learning programming. These studies have focused on teaching metacognitive awareness to students by helping them understand the six stages of learning so students can know where they are in the problem-solving process, but these approaches are not scalable. One way to address scalability is to implement features in an automated assessment tool (AAT) that build metacognitive awareness in novice programmers. Currently, AATs that provide feedback messages to students can be said to implement the fifth and sixth learning stages integral to metacognitive awareness: implement solution (compilation) and evaluate implemented solution (test cases). The computer science education (CSed) community is actively engaged in research on the efficacy of compile error messages (CEMs) and how best to enhance them to maximize student learning and it is currently heavily disputed whether or not enhanced compile error messages (ECEMs) in AATs actually improve student learning. The discussion on the effectiveness of ECEMs in AATs remains focused on only one learning stage critical to metacognitive awareness in novices: implement solution. This research carries out an ethnomethodologically-informed study of CS1 students via think-aloud studies and interviews in order to propose a framework for designing an AAT that builds metacognitive awareness by supporting novices through all six stages of learning. The results of this study provide two important contributions. The first is the confirmation that ECEMs that are designed from a human-factors approach are more helpful for students than standard compiler error messages. The second important contribution is that the results from the observations and post-assessment interviews revealed the difficulties novice programmers often face to developing metacognitive awareness when using an AAT. Understanding these barriers revealed concrete ways to help novice programmers through all six stages of the problem-solving process. This was presented above as a framework of features, which when implemented properly, provides a scalable way to implicitly produce metacognitive awareness in novice programmers.
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DePasquale, Peter Joseph III. "Implications on the Learning of Programming Through the Implementation of Subsets in Program Development Environments." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/28367.
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The undergraduate Computer Science program at Virginia Tech is the largest in the Commonwealth of Virginia, of which a key component is ``CS 1044: Introduction to Programming'', and is typical of a first course in computer programming throughout the USA. While the student access to learning resources has improved considerably with the development of web-based assets, students are still expected to use the same sophisticated program development tools as are used in industry. The perceived complexity of the learning environment currently in use drives many women and minority students from the Computer Science program. A great deal of attention has been paid to the need to administer the student assignments and the grading system for this course, so as to minimize the teaching/grading load, but little attention has been paid to the methodologies of learning the material through practice. The work reported herein is intended to improve the pedagogy of this course by creating and integrating teaching/learning tools that better manage the student's engagement in the use of program development activities. Following the implementation of a three-element software system involving an interpreter for the C-language, a program development environment, and a data-monitoring/collectiondevice, the system was deployed in support of the freshman course in parallel to the commercial system commonly used. The experiment concentrated on examining the impact of the simplified development environment and the effort required for students to complete assigned programming projects.Ph. D.
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Ma, Linxiao. "Investigating and improving novice programmers’ mental models of programming concepts." Thesis, University of Strathclyde, 2007. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.444415.
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Long, Xingyu. "Understanding Common Scratch Programming Idioms and Their Impact on Project Remixing." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/103475.
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As Scratch has become one of the most popular educational programming languages, understanding its common programming idioms can benefit both computing educators and learners. This understanding can fine-tune the curricular development to help learners master the fundamentals of writing idiomatic code in their programming pursuits. Unfortunately, the research community's understanding of what constitutes idiomatic Scratch code has been limited. To help bridge this knowledge gap, we systematically identified idioms as based on canonical source code, presented in widely available educational materials.
We implemented a tool that automatically detects these idioms to assess their prevalence within a large dataset of over 70K Scratch projects in different demographic and project categories. Since communal learning and the practice of remixing are one of the cornerstones of the Scratch programming community, we studied the relationship between common programming idioms and remixes.
Having analyzed the original projects and their remixes, we observed that different idioms may associate with dissimilar types of code changes. Code changes in remixes are desirable, as they require a meaningful programming effort that spurs the learning process. The ability to substantially change a project in its remixes hinges on the project's code being easy to understand and modify. Our findings suggest that the presence of certain common idioms can indeed positively impact the degree of code changes in remixes. Our findings can help form a foundation of what comprises common Scratch programming idioms, thus benefiting both introductory computing education and Scratch programming tools.Master of Science
With over 68 million users and growing, Scratch has become one of the most popular programming languages for introductory computing learners. As with learning any programming language, understanding common programming idioms used in the language's application domain is important for both computing educators and learners. Educators need this understanding in order to fine-tune their curricular development, while learners can leverage this knowledge to effectively master the fundamentals by writing idiomatic code. Unfortunately, our understanding of what constitutes idiomatic Scratch code thus far has been limited. To address this knowledge gap, we systematically identified idioms based on source code with good code quality, as presented in widely available educational materials. We implemented a tool that automatically detects these idioms to assess their prevalence within a large, diverse dataset of over 70K Scratch projects. Since communal learning and the practice of remixing are one of the cornerstones of the Scratch programming community, we studied the relationship between common programming idioms and remixes. Having analyzed the original projects and their remixes, we found that different idioms may associate with dissimilar types of code changes. The ability to change a project in its remixes hinges on the project's code being easy to understand and modify. Our findings suggest that the presence of certain common idioms can positively impact the degree of code changes in remixes. Our findings can help form a foundation of what comprises common Scratch programming idioms, thus benefiting both introductory computing education and Scratch programming tools.
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Case, Desmond Robert. "An animated pedagogical agent for assisting novice programmers within a desktop computer environment." Thesis, Staffordshire University, 2012. http://eprints.staffs.ac.uk/1979/.
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Learning to program for the first time can be a daunting process, fraught with difficulty and setback. The novice learner is faced with learning two skills at the same time each that depends on the other; they are how a program needs to be constructed to solve a problem and how the structures of a program work towards solving a problem. In addition the learner has to develop practical skills such as how to design a solution, how to use the programming development environment, how to recognise errors, how to diagnose their cause and how to successfully correct them. The nature of learning how to program a computer can cause frustration to many and some to disengage before they have a chance to progress. Numerous authorities have observed that novice programmers make the same mistakes and encounter the same problems when learning their first programming language. The learner errors are usually from a fixed set of misconceptions that are easily corrected by experience and with appropriate guidance. This thesis demonstrates how a virtual animated pedagogical agent, called MRCHIPS, can extend the Beliefs-Desires-Intentions model of agency to provide mentoring and coaching support to novice programmers learning their first programming language, Python. The Cognitive Apprenticeship pedagogy provides the theoretical underpinning of the agent mentoring strategy. Case-Based Reasoning is also used to support MRCHIPS reasoning, coaching and interacting with the learner. The results indicate that in a small controlled study when novice learners are assisted by MRCHIPS they are more productive than those working without the assistance, and are better at problem solving exercises, there are also manifestations of higher of degree of engagement and learning of the language syntax.
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Rudolph, Godfrey. "Instructional technology for the teaching of novice programmers at a university of technology." Thesis, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11838/1401.
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Dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Information Technologyin the Department of Information Technology in the Faculty of Informatics and Design Cape Peninsula University of TechnologyLearning computer programming can be fun, challenging and improve problem solving which is a useful ability in general. A teaching-learning environment with a strong emphasis on problem solving promotes social behaviour and discloses the personal benefits that individuals working in almost any Information Technology position can get from programming knowledge. This research project is looking at the challenges experienced by novice programmers and the negative effect it has on the student and the university. This study will address the knowledge and skills needs of programming students and the challenges for students and educators to evolve from traditional to technology-supported teaching and learning. Computer programming is a cognitively challenging subject and good instructional strategies are important in providing the student with optimal learner support. Novice programmers often struggle to understand how a computer executes a program, which impacts negatively on the delivery of the subject and throughput rates. The majority of first year Information Technology students at Cape Peninsula University of Technology are novice programmers and lack strong logic and reasoning as well as other Information Technology skills that can facilitate their interpretation and application of key concepts in programming. These challenges and negative impact on the academic development of programming students have therefore forced the researcher to investigate innovative teaching strategies and/or instructional technologies that can facilitate novice programmers in learning the basic programming concepts. The purpose of this on-going study is to enhance the traditional method of teaching and the understanding of the problems experienced by novice programmers. This study attempts to respond to the question of what the tentative design principles of instructional technology are that can be used to facilitate novice programmers’ understanding of programming concepts. A mix methodology was considered but at the end a qualitative approach was employed. Multiple sources of data gathering, which include participant observations, video recording, a questionnaire, and document analysis, were used as research instruments. The findings, relative to providing a basis for finding a mechanism to help our first year students to cope with the abstract concepts of programming, reflected the literature review. Other key findings included: Students have little or no prior computer or programming experience Student population is diverse in terms of computer skills and programming knowledge Visualization will help reduce the difficulties in writing programs The overall outcomes of this study suggest that: Good programming examples that include games should be used Students must be given the opportunity to be more active in their learning. Computerized assistants should be provided for novice programmers A visualization tool similar to Scratch should be considered A basic background in Mathematics is recommended
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Al, Muljim Ensaf. "Designing, piloting and evaluating an ICT training programme for novice female primary teachers in Saudi Arabia." Thesis, University of Plymouth, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/3077.
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The focus of this study is the development of an ICT training package for novice female primary teachers in Saudi Arabia. In recent years, the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia has placed a lot of importance on increasing the use of ICT within schools. Evidence suggests however that little attention has been paid to the provision of ICT training, particularly in primary education. Furthermore, in the general research literature; whilst there is much talk about the need for training, very little evidence is provided regarding what kind of training is effective. The purpose of this study therefore was to systematically design and evaluate an ICT training package that was informed by learning theory, research evidence and user needs. The study was conducted in two phases: 1) determining the ICT training needs of novice female primary teachers in Saudi Arabia; 2) designing, piloting and evaluating a training package based on identified needs and preferences, in-service teacher training literature and common learning theories in the field. In phase one, a qualitative survey that employed a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews was conducted. There were 135 participants in the questionnaire and 20 interviewees. The survey findings of revealed a great gap in both the technical and pedagogical skills of teachers. Furthermore, the data identified some factors that either limit or motivate teachers’ use of ICT. The participants’ preferences for their future ICT training were also determined. These results were used to inform the design of a training package. Key design features of the training package included: covering both technical and pedagogical content; using a blended approach that combined face-to-face and online delivery and using iv social constructivism and experiential learning to underpin its pedagogy. Twenty-two teachers participated in the pilot training. Evaluation data collected from a range of sources suggest that the teachers responded well to the design features of the training package and that the training had some positive influence on their practice. Using the literature review and the training needs data as well as the data generated from my own study I have identified five key design criteria that I believe can be applied to designing similar training packages in the future: Ownership; Shared learning; Contextualisation; Transformational potential and Evidence-based.
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Dudman, Kay Elizabeth. "An intention-based debugging system for novice assembly language programmers in an education environment." Thesis, Queen Mary, University of London, 1991. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.528931.
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Rajan, T. "APT : a principled design for an animated view of program execution for novice programmers." Thesis, Open University, 1986. http://oro.open.ac.uk/56927/.
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This thesis is concerned with the principled design of a computational environment which depicts an animated view of program execution for novice programmers. We assert that a principled animated view of program execution should benefit novice programmers by: (i) helping students conceptualize what is happening when programs are executed; (ii) simplifying debugging through the presentation of bugs in a manner which the novice will understand; (iii) reducing program development time. The design is based on principles which have been extracted from three areas: (i) the problems that novices encounter when learning a programming language; (ii) the general design principles for computer systems; and (iii) systems which present a view of program execution. The design principles have been embodied in three 'canned stepper displays for Prolog, Lisp and 6502 Assembler. These prototypes, called APT-0 (Animated Program Tracer), demonstrate that the design principles can be broadly applied to procedural and declarative; low and high level languages. Protocol data was collected from subjects using the prototypes in order to check the direction of the research and to suggest improvements in the design. These improvements have been incorporated in a real implementation of APT for Prolog. This principled approach embodied by APT provides two important facilities which have previously not been available, firstly a means of demonstrating dynamic programming concepts such as variable binding, recursion, and backtracking, and secondly a debugging tool which allows novices to step through their own code watching the virtual machine in action. This moves towards simplifying the novice's debugging environment by supplying program execution information in a form that the novice can easily assimilate. An experiment into the misconceptions novices hold concerning the execution of Prolog programs shows that the order of database search, and the concepts of variable binding, unification and backtracking are poorly understood. A further experiment was conducted which looked at the effect that APT had on the ability of novice Prolog programmers to understand the execution of Prolog programs. This demonstrated that the performance of subjects significantly increased after being shown demonstrations of the execution of Prolog programs on APT, while the control group who saw no demonstration showed no improvement. The experimental evidence demonstrates the potential of APT, and the principled approach which it embodies, to communicate run-time information to novice programmers, increasing their understanding of the dynamic aspects of the Prolog interpreter. APT, uses an object centred representation, is built on top of a Prolog interpreter and environment, and is implemented in Common Lisp and Zeta Lisp and runs on the Symbolics 3600 range of machines.
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Athri, Ashima. "Integrating the Media Computation API with Pythy, an Online IDE for Novice Python Programmers." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/56564.
Full textAbstract:
Improvements in both software and curricula have helped introductory computer science courses attract and retain more students. Pythy is one such online learning environment that aims to reduce software setup related barriers to learning Python while providing facilities like course management and grading to instructors. To further enable its goals of being beginner-centric, we want to integrate full support for media-computation-style programming activities. The media computation curriculum teaches fundamental computer science concepts through the activities of manipulating images, sounds and videos, and has been shown to be successful in retaining students and helping them gain transferable knowledge.
In this work we tackle the first two installments of the problem namely, supporting image and sound-based media computation programs in Pythy. This involves not only client-side support that enables students to run media-computation exercises in the browser, but also server-side support to leverage Pythy's auto-grading facilities. We evaluated our implementation by systematically going through all 82 programs in the textbook that deal with image and sound manipulation and verifying if they worked in Pythy as-is, while complementing this with unit-tests for full test coverage. As a result, Pythy now supports 65 out of the 66 media-computation methods required for image and sound manipulation on both the client and the server-side, and 81 out of the 82 programs in the media-computation textbook can be executed as-is in Pythy.Master of Science
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Vogts, Dieter. "The evaluation of a pedagogical-program development environment for Novice programmers : a comparative study." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/638.
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It is an acknowledged fact that many novice programmers experience difficulty in the process of learning to program. One of the contributing factors to this difficulty is the Program Development Environment (PDE). Professional-PDEs are those developed specifically for professional programmers, but are often used by educational institutions in the instruction of programming. It has long been accepted that such environments are inappropriate in the instruction of programming due to unnecessary complexity and lack of support for novice programmers in the learning process. Numerous pedagogical-PDEs supporting the mechanics of programming have been developed in response to this. A review of literature, however, indicates that very limited empirical studies comparing pedagogical-PDEs and professional-PDEs have been conducted. The current study investigates whether there are measurable benefits to using a pedagogical-PDE supporting the mechanics of programming in the instruction of programming instead of a professional-PDE. A comparative study of this nature requires a representative pedagogical-PDE and representative professional-PDE be compared with one another. The first part of the current study determines a set of requirements that a pedagogical- PDE should adhere to based on literature. A set of representative features for a pedagogical-PDE is derived by examining the features of existing PDEs in conjunction with the set of requirements. Based on these features, a pedagogical-PDE, known as SimplifIDE, is developed that implements the representative set of features and that meets are the requirements for a pedagogical-PDE. The second part of the current study is the specification and administration of an empirical experiment in which SimplifIDE and Borland© DelphiTM are compared with one another. A holistic approach in determining the differences between the PDEs is taken and three main areas are examined, namely academic performance, perceptions and programming behavior.
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Dillon, Edward. "Which environment is more suitable for novice programmers editor/command line/console environment vs. Integrated Development Environment /." Thesis, [Tuscaloosa, Ala. : University of Alabama Libraries], 2009. http://purl.lib.ua.edu/107.
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Coertzen, Marlé. "The development and implementation of a psychoeducational programme: a case study on mental toughness in a novice triathlete." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63010.
Full textAbstract:
As an academic and applied discipline, sport psychology is interested in identifying, understanding, measuring and developing the various mental constructs that interact with physical factors, aiming to produce optimum performance and enhance athletes’ experience of sport participation. The programmes developed within sport psychology are not only applicable to sport, but have applicability within other areas, such as the performing arts, business and professions that are considered high risk, such as the military. Using a mixed methods approach and a triangulation of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis techniques, the goal of this research was to document the process of developing and implementing a psychoeducational mental toughness programme and to evaluate the programme through exploring the participant’s subjective experience of such a programme. The aim of the research was to contribute to the existing literature on mental toughness programmes. This was attained through administering the Sport Mental Toughness Questionnaire (SMTQ) and a semi-structured interview, which informed the development and implementation of a psychoeducational mental toughness programme relative to the idiosyncrasies of the participant and grounded in strengths-based approaches to mental toughness development. Results were obtained based on post-implementation data collected through a second administration of the SMTQ and a semi-structured interview. The participant experienced the programme as positive and results were indicative of changes in his experiences of self-confidence and control, related to the global themes of mindset, flexibility and mindfulness.
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Bird, Amanda Jane. "Issues, opportunities and concepts in the teaching of programming to novice programmers at the University of Lincoln : three approaches." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.419610.
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Techapalokul, Peeratham. "Automated Identification and Application of Code Refactoring in Scratch to Promote the Culture Quality from the Ground up." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/98756.
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Much of software engineering research and practice is concerned with improving software quality. While enormous prior efforts have focused on improving the quality of programs, this dissertation instead provides the means to educate the next generation of programmers who care deeply about software quality. If they embrace the culture of quality, these programmers would be positioned to drastically improve the quality of the software ecosystem. This dissertation describes novel methodologies, techniques, and tools for introducing novice programmers to software quality and its systematic improvement. This research builds on the success of Scratch, a popular novice-oriented block-based programming language, to support the learning of code quality and its improvement. This dissertation improves the understanding of quality problems of novice programmers, creates analysis and quality improvement technologies, and develops instructional approaches for teaching quality improvement. The contributions of this dissertation are as follows. (1) We identify twelve code smells endemic to Scratch, show their prevalence in a large representative codebase, and demonstrate how they hinder project reuse and communal learning. (2) We introduce four new refactorings for Scratch, develop an infrastructure to support them in the Scratch programming environment, and evaluate their effectiveness for the target audience. (3) We study the impact of introducing code quality concepts alongside the fundamentals of programming with and without automated refactoring support. Our findings confirm that it is not only feasible but also advantageous to promote the culture of quality from the ground up. The contributions of this dissertation can benefit both novice programmers and introductory computing educators.Doctor of Philosophy
Software remains one of the most defect-prone artifacts across all engineering disciplines. Much of software engineering research and practice is concerned with improving software quality. While enormous prior efforts have focused on improving the quality of programs, this dissertation instead provides the means to educate the next generation of programmers who care deeply about software quality. If they embrace the culture of quality, these programmers would be positioned to drastically improve the quality of the software ecosystem, akin to professionals in traditional engineering disciplines. This dissertation describes novel methodologies, techniques, and tools for introducing novice programmers to software quality and its systematic improvement. This research builds on the success of Scratch, a popular visual programming language for teaching introductory students, to support the learning of code quality and its improvement. This dissertation improves the understanding of quality problems of novice programmers, creates analysis and quality improvement technologies, and develops instructional approaches for teaching quality improvement. This dissertation contributes (1) a large-scale study of recurring quality problems in Scratch projects and how these problems hinder communal learning, (2) four new refactorings, quality improving behavior-preserving program transformations, as well as their implementation and evaluation, (3) a study of the impact of introducing code quality concepts alongside the fundamentals of programming with and without automated refactoring support. Our findings confirm that it is not only feasible but also advantageous to promote the culture of quality from the ground up. The contributions of this dissertation can benefit both novice programmers and introductory computing educators.
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Vickers, Paul. "CAITLIN : implementation of a musical program auralisation system to study the effects on debugging tasks as performed by novice Pascal programmers." Thesis, Loughborough University, 1999. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/10560.
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In recent years, researchers have begun to focus on the communication of information using sound. This auditory display research community now has its own community and international conference (the International Conference on Auditory Display). Auditory Display embraces many interesting avenues of enquiry, one of which, program auralisation is the topic of this thesis. This thesis describes how the technique of program auralisation (the mapping of computer program data and events to sound) was applied within a musical framework and .context in the development of a musical program auralisation system called CAITLIN (the Computer Audio Interface to Locate Incorrect Nonsense). The motivation behind the construction of CAITLIN was to devise a system of auditory display that would assist novice Pascal programmers in debugging their code. Prior to this thesis, almost no experimentation had been carried out into this area. Earlier systems had been developed, but there was no empirical evidence against which to judge success or failure. Experimentation was carried out to assess the suitability of the technique as applied by CAITLIN. Novice programmers were engaged in several debugging exercises both with and without the assistance of the CAITLIN musical program auralisations. The results from the experiments have suggested circumstances in which such auditory feedback may indeed be useful. Further development and experimentation needs to be carried out to explore the potential of the technique. A set of organising principles for the use of music in program auralisation has been proposed on the basis of this research and a review of earlier work in the auditory display, music cognition, and music-theoretic fields.
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Law, Lai-chong. "Empirical studies of program bugs and debugging strategies of novice BASIC programmers and the transferability of debugging skills to non-programming domains." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1992. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B29789102.
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Pulfer, Charles E. "A comparison of the ability of novices and experienced third generation language programmers to learn fourth generation languages." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/26111.
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This thesis describes research which was carried out to determine whether novices could program in fourth generation languages as well as experienced third generation programmers.
It was thought that experience with a third generation language could be transferred to a fourth generation environment. This hypothesis was tested using a completely randomized block design lab experiment consisting of two factors and a block. The two factors were experience with third generation languages, and complexity of the task. The block was the educational institution where the lab sessions were conducted. Each of the factors and the block had two levels. The specific hypotheses tested were:
1. Experienced third generation language programmers will record higher mean scores on both simple and complex tests of fourth generation languages.
2. The difference in test scores, between simple and complex fourth generation language tasks, will be greater for novices than for experienced third generation language programmers.
3. Experience with other software tools, especially report writers, query languages, and other fourth generation languages will affect the subjects' performance on the fourth generation language tests.
Using FOCUS as the fourth generation language, lab sessions were run for fifty-seven subjects. The results indicate that experience with third generation languages affects a subject's performance on simple tests of fourth generation languages. The results also indicate that the experience has no effect on complex tests of fourth generation languages. Because of a lack of data, no meaningful conclusions could be reached for hypothesis number three.
We feel experienced third generation language programmers scored higher than novices on simple 4GL reporting tests because experienced 3GL programmers had skills which were very similar to the skills needed in a simple 4GL reporting application.
There are several possible ways of explaining why experienced programmers could do no better than novices on complex 4GL reporting tests. One possible explanation follows; because complex 4GL reporting commands are so different from third generation language commands, third generation language programmers had no advantage over novices. A second explanation might be that the complex test was too difficult, or too long. As a result of this difficulty, no one was able to perform very well.
We conclude that experienced programmers should be preferred over novices when applications involve simple 4GL commands. More research is necessary to determine if in fact novices can perform as well as experienced third generation language programmers on complex 4GL tasks.Business, Sauder School of
Graduate
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Uugwanga, Tulonga Tulimeutho. "An investigation of the coping mechanisms of novice teachers : a study of selected high schools in the Oshikoto Region of Namibia." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2010. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&action=viewtitle&id=gen8Srv25Nme4_2155_1318832634.
Full textAbstract:
Although there are several achievements made by the Namibian government after independence, there are still many constraints and challenges facing the education system, particularly with regard to novice teachers&rsquo
support and professional development. Most novice teachers are coming into the teaching profession and receive little or no assistance. Nevertheless, novice teachers are expected to perform the full teaching responsibilities despite their inexperience. Novice teachers are expected to formulate their own coping strategies and to grapple with the challenges they encounter during their first year of teaching on their own. This study aims at investigating the coping mechanisms used by novice teachers to achieve their teaching goals during their first year of teaching. The study recommends that the teacher training institutions, the Ministry of Education and schools have an important role to play in facilitating the use of effective coping mechanisms and in assisting novice teachers in alleviating these challenges. Teacher training should ensure that a balance is maintained between theory and practice. In addition the Ministry needs to provide favourable working conditions and put up support systems for novice teachers. Schools should also provide orientation to all novice teachers and most especially render support to all novice teachers until they are fully integrated into the school and teaching culture.
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Vasilopoulos, Ioannis Vasileiou. "The design, development and evaluation of a visual programming tool for novice programmers : psychological and pedagogical effects of introductory programming tools on programming knowledge of Greek students." Thesis, Teesside University, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10149/347149.
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This thesis reports a research project that aims to improve the teaching and learning of introductory programming from a pedagogical and psychological viewpoint. Towards this aim, seven principles for designing educational programming tools for novices were identified by reviewing literature regarding novices’ difficulties and using a theoretical framework defined by the psychological theories of Constructivism and Cognitive Load Theory. This set of design principles was not only theoretically identified, but its pedagogical impact was also empirically tested. For this reason, Koios, a new programming tool, was designed and developed as a manifestation of the combined set of principles. Empirical studies were conducted by a way of a quasi-experimental design in two different Greek secondary-education institutions. The independent variable was compliance with the set of the seven principles. Students’ level of programming skills (procedural knowledge) was the dependent variable, while the quality of their mental models in the domain of introductory programming (declarative knowledge) was the potential mediator. The effect of compliance with the set of principles on students’ programming skills and mental-model quality was explored via Koios’ evaluation. Declarative- and procedural-knowledge measurements, as well as a practical test, were used to collect data, which were analysed using ANOVA and hierarchical multiple regression. The major conclusions drawn from this study are:(a) compliance with the set of design principles does not affect the development of novices’ procedural and declarative programming knowledge, (b) a programming tool that highly complies with this set facilitates novices in the application of their procedural programming knowledge during program creation and (c) programming tools, declarative and procedural knowledge are independent components in learning to program. However, it was also concluded that the two knowledge types and a programming tool that highly complies with the set contribute significantly to novices’ programming performance. This study contributes to knowledge by theoretically identifying and empirically testing a set of design principles for educational programming software, and by producing and scientifically evaluating a programming tool as an embodiment of this set. Through this evaluation, the suggestion of Koios as a practically useful programming tool for novices seems to be well supported.
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Thompson, Errol Lindsay. "How do they understand? Practitioner perceptions of an object-oriented program : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education (Computer Science) at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand." Massey University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/854.
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In the computer science community, there is considerable debate about the appropriate sequence for introducing object-oriented concepts to novice programmers. Research into novice programming has struggled to identify the critical aspects that would provide a consistently successful approach to teaching introductory object-oriented programming. Starting from the premise that the conceptions of a task determine the type of output from the task, assisting novice programmers to become aware of what the required output should be, may lay a foundation for improving learning. This study adopted a phenomenographic approach. Thirty one practitioners were interviewed about the ways in which they experience object-oriented programming and categories of description and critical aspects were identified. These critical aspects were then used to examine the spaces of learning provided in twenty introductory textbooks. The study uncovered critical aspects that related to the way that practitioners expressed their understanding of an object-oriented program and the influences on their approach to designing programs. The study of the textbooks revealed a large variability in the cover of these critical aspects.
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Archieri, Catherine. "La construction de l’expérience par le théâtre : contribution à un programme d'ergonomie des situations de formation au métier d'enseignant." Thesis, Brest, 2013. http://www.theses.fr/2013BRES0010/document.
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Cette recherche présente des travaux sur la construction de l’expérience d’apprenants « enseignant » par la pratique du théâtre selon une approche orientée « analyse de l’activité ». L’objectif était de traiter la question suivante : à quelles conditions une pratique théâtrale en formation peut-elle aider des étudiants à entrer dans leur « rôle » de futurs enseignants novices, et donc les aider à agir ultérieurement en classe ? La production de connaissances scientifiques était guidée par un enjeu praxéologique en termes d’aide aux concepteurs de dispositif de formation à visée professionnalisante. Trois catégories de matériaux empiriques ont été utilisées pour construire les données : a) des données d’observation recueillies au cours des situations de formation ; b) des données d’autoconfrontation issues d’entretiens menés juste à l’issue des situations de formation ; c) des données d’entretiens menés à distance des formations. L’analyse des données a été conduite en référence à l’approche sémiologique du cours d’action (Theureau, 2004, 2006) qui a permis de décrire et d’interpréter l’activité des participants aux enquêtes. L’apport scientifique de cette recherche permet de proposer une orientation nouvelle dans le champ de la formation des enseignants : celle d’une centration sur l’activité créatrice de l’apprenant encourageant l’émergence de dispositions à agir en situations d’imprévu, encourageant l’autorégulation, l’analyse de pratique collective, l’ouverture sur l’environnement. Ainsi, aussi paradoxal que cela puisse paraître, le jeu d’improvisation dans une situation éloignée du contexte professionnel et dans des conditions sécurisantes peut s’avérer être un espace d’actions encouragées (Durand, 2008) pour le futur enseignant noviceThis research presents works on the construction of the experience of teacher trainees by the practice of drama according to an "analysis of the activity" approach. The goal was to treat the following question: at which conditions can a theatrical practice help students to enter their "role" of future teachers, and thus to help them to act later in class? A praxeological stake to help the designers of training programs with professional-qualification aim guided the production of scientific knowledge. Three categories of empirical materials were used to build the data: a) observation data collected during the training session; b) self-confrontation data gathered from interviews led just after training sessions; c) data of interviews led some time after the training sessions. The data analysis was driven in reference to the semiological approach of the "cours d'action" (Theureau, on 2004, 2006) that allowed to describe and to interpret activities of the participants. The scientific contribution of this research allows to propose a new orientation in the field of teacher training: to focus on the creative activity of the trainees encouraging the emergence of "potentialities to act" in unforeseen situations, encouraging the self regulation, the analysis of collective practice, the opening on the environment. So, even if it seems paradoxical, a game of improvisation in a situation remote from the professional context and in reassuring conditions can turn out to be a "space of encouraged actions" (Durand, on 2008) for the future teacher
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West, Sumaya. "From novice to expert: assessment of the levels of expertise of South African Chartered Accountants and Auditors in an academic and professional programme using the Dreyfus's Five-Stage Model of Skills Acquisition." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/24510.
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Knowledge in professional and business related courses are grounded in real-world business contexts, which influence the theoretical aspects of an academic programme. Most students in South Africa lack prior business and auditing knowledge, which makes it difficult for them to transfer the theoretical business knowledge, skills and attributes acquired in an educational setting, to the workplace setting. The challenge for auditing educators is to facilitate the acquisition and transfer of theoretical auditing knowledge in preparation of and application for the workplace. Research studies suggest that there is a key dilemma within continuing professional education and development, which mainly relates to the tension between the academic knowledge, skills and attributes and the knowledge, skills and attributes required in professional auditing practice. The purpose of this qualitative study was to assess and compare the development of professional competencies and related expertise of different individuals at different stages in their professional auditing careers. The Dreyfus's five-stage model of skill acquisition (Dreyfus's model) offers a useful theoretical framework for understanding how individuals acquire knowledge and skills through formal instruction and experience. The five stages of the Dreyfus model are identified as novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient and expert. In this study, the adapted Dreyfus's model was used to assess the knowledge and skills needed of auditors at various stages in an academic and professional training programme in South Africa. Using ten semi-structured interviews, this study highlights the differences in the levels of expertise between experienced auditors and auditors at the novice stage of proficiency. Participants in this study included audit graduates, audit trainees and audit managers. The study found that there were distinct stages in skills development, generally in line with those suggested by the Dreyfus's model, and that there were major shifts in individuals' practice with the development of professional expertise. Central to the movement from one stage to the next is the way in which meaningful connections are made between what is already known (theory) and its application (practice). In developing a framework for understanding what auditing knowledge, skills and experiences are required at various stages, this study informs further development plans for educational workplace settings that are specifically designed for individuals to progress from one developmental stage to another.
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Tsai, Yu Che, and 蔡宇哲. "Novice Programmers’ Misconception in Program Tracing." Thesis, 2019. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/seu7tz.
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博士長庚大學
資訊管理學系
107
Computer programming is becoming more and more important. Learning how to program has been included in the curriculum of elementary education, in Taiwan and worldwide. Program skills include not only program creation, but also other important tasks such as design, program understanding, debugging, and more. In programming, these tasks usually concurrently occur in a highly interlaced manner. Tracking is one of the techniques of programming. When a learner expects results of executing code or predict the outcome of running a piece of code, we call it tracing. This study uses the content analysis method. We recorded the code written by the subjects on the computer and these recorded videos were used to interview the subject's for understanding their thoughts at the time. Based on the definitions of terms of related literature, the misconceptions that took place in tracing were classified and identified. The study found that subjects had five types of misconceptions in tracing, as introduced in the following. First including incomprehension of the change in the variable states, the subject understands the error in the state change of the variable. Second abstraction difficulties can use numbers to write the correct loop, but generate errors after substitution of variables, or cannot substitute variables into the loop. Third in the face of problems (topics or incorrect code), projects due to certain factors (eg, Interpretation problem, Boundary problem) cannot achieve goals. Fourth the programming language is unfamiliar and unfamiliar with the syntax and semantics of the program. Fifth novice doesn't understand the process of program execution, and novice understands the order of program execution.
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Lee, Okhwa. "Novice programmers' errors and misconceptions in Logo." 1986. http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/15286220.html.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1986.Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 149-158).
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Lin, Kuan-Yu, and 林冠宇. "An Analysis of Novice Alice Programmers’ Error Types." Thesis, 2013. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/28504052870419349137.
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碩士國立臺灣師範大學
資訊教育學系
101
This study aims to investigate the difficulties encountered by novice Alice programmers and categorize the types of errors they make. The researcher conducted one-on-one clinical interviews with 22 freshmen at a senior high school. The participants were offered nine Alice projects with increasing levels of difficulty, each requiring the use of a different set of programming constructs. Each participant was observed closely as s/he worked on the given projects. Whenever an error occurred in his/her program or when s/he did not know how to proceed, the observer would intervene by asking a sequence of questions with increasing specificity, ranging from prompts, hints, to provides, in order to determine the cause of the impasse. This study summarizes the common errors for each of the Alice programming constructs that the participants used in their projects and categorized the errors into four types: connection errors, location errors, usage errors and math-and-other errors. In view of these error types, this study also gave suggestions for teaching Alice programming.
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鄭舜尹. "A Study of Misconceptions and Missing Conceptions of Novice Java Programmers." Thesis, 2011. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/53076209704010486468.
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碩士國立臺灣師範大學
資訊教育學系
99
The purpose of this study is to investigate the difficulties encountered by novice Java programmers. In particular, it tries to identify typical missing conceptions and misconceptions students may have about Java’s syntax and semantics as well as fundamental concepts of object-oriented programming. One-on-one clinical interviews were conducted with 22 freshmen. The students were observed closely by the researcher as they implemented a well-specified Java project. Whenever an error occurred in a student’s program and s/he did not know how to proceed, the researcher asked him/her a sequence of pre-designed questions and gave suitable hints, ranging from general suggestions to detailed specifics, in order to determine the cause of the impasse. This study revealed that many students: (1) could not recall the correct syntax of certain Java programming constructs or did not understand how they (e.g., for loops, for-each loops, and method invocations) were executed internatlly; (2) had difficulties understading certain object-oriented concepts (e.g., inheritance, polymorphism, and overloading); (3) did not know certain object-oriented concepts well enough to apply them in problem solving; (4) were not familiar with standard Java libraries; (5) were unable to realize how various classes defined in a Java program related and interacted with one another; and (6) were incapable of debugging programming errors based on the error messages given by the compiler. This study also unveiled the following misconceptions harbored by many students: (1) They often confused formal parameters with actual parameters; (2) many failed to recognize that classes were actually user-defined data types that could be used to define variables just like built-in data types such as integer and boolean; (3) some erroneously thought that constructors of all classes defined in a project were invoked automatically when the project was opened; (4) many did not realize that constructors, as a special type of methods, did not require a return type; (5) some defined the constructor(s) of a class as its private member(s) while they should be public members instead; (6) some mistakenly considered that a private method could not invoke methods defined in other classes. It is essential that Java programming instructors pay special attention to help students to rectify the missing conceptions and misconceptions identified above.
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Dishena, Robert Nghinaakundaama. "Novice teachers' perceptions of school-based induction programmes at selected primary schools in Windhoek, Namibia." Diss., 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/18484.
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School-based induction programmes largely focus on informing beginner teachers about the school culture and infrastructure, yet, the core business of education is teaching and learning. A consensus is, however, growing among educators and researchers that despite the positive experiences novice teachers experience during school-based induction programmes, they also experience challenges which affect their perceptions of school-based induction. Despite those challenges in the education sector, hope for the future, as guided by Vision 2030, still remains with one essential human resource: the teachers themselves. Therefore, if novice teachers are to impact profoundly on the learners’ academic achievement, then quality induction programmes must be in place in Namibian schools in order to support their instructional growth. A comprehensive nation-wide induction effort with high emphasise on mentoring will accelerate novice teacher efficacy and consequently learner learning. The purpose of this research study was to identify beginner teachers’ perceptions of school-based induction at selected primary schools in Windhoek and suggested a framework which may inform future research efforts and improve the application of school-based induction. To do this, a qualitative research methodology was preferred to assess the perceptions of novice teachers at the selected schools. Eight beginner teachers and four Heads of Departments participated in the study. The result draws attention to the professional enculturation of beginner teachers, but notably, compels practical reconsideration on how school-based induction is practised in light of beginner teacher growth and sustainability.Educational Management and Leadership
M. Ed. (Educational Management)
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Cavaiani, Thomas P. "An investigation of the relationship between cognitive style and the diagnostic skills of novice COBOL student programmers /." 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/1957/16730.
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Maje, Itumeleng David. "Managing the implementation of an induction programme for novice educators in Taledi area project office / Maje Itumeleng David." Thesis, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10394/14788.
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The purpose of this study is to identify the factors and conditions that will enable the
next generation of educators and novice-educators to realize their full potentials to
succeed in the important work of educating learners. Both new and experienced
educators should remain positive and feel that the opportunities outweigh the day-today
challenges of teaching, yet, the teaching profession has a dismal record when it
comes to helping novice-educators thrive and render service.
The following objectives of the study were to be discussed:
• Determining from the literature the nature and scope of school induction for
novice educators.
• Investigating the experience of principals, heads of department as well as new
educators and views on new teacher induction programmes in the Taledi Area
Project Office; and
• Defining and presenting possible strategies for the implementation of an
effective induction programme
The "sink" and "swim" mentality that continues to characterize the entry of new
educators into the profession is of great concern. The teaching profession expects
new educators to take on the same responsibilities and duties as those of educators
ready to leave the profession. The reasons behind the educators' dissatisfaction are
several, including ineffective induction, insufficient mentoring programme,
inappropriate or inadequate working conditions, poor salaries and less caring
administrative-leadership support.
The researcher adopted two research approaches which are the qualitative and
quantitative research paradigms. Purposive sampling was used to select the
participants. Data was collected through the usage of questionnaires, field notes,
observation and face to face interviews. Data was analyzed using content analysis
coupled with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS.15). A conceptual
approach to critical reflection was used in the study. My extensive background as an
educator enabled me to critically reflect on my experience and interactions with
numerous prospective, new and experienced educators.
The study has revealed that the upgrading programme is related to job description
and accountability. It is vitally important to bring about a climate of school
effectiveness supporting personal development to be in position to effect an efficient
educative teaching in schools.
From empirical studies it is recommended that:
• Development of an advanced, specialized and intensified induction programme
be implemented.
• Creation of an open channel of communication, emanating from good
leadership skills including all concerned stakeholders be promoted.
• Provision of annual induction programme for novice educators be condoned.
An urgent need for effectively managing the implementation of an induction
programme for novice educators predominantly emerged from the study. Policies
related at the staff development should be unfolded by the National Department of
Education. Induction aimed directly to professional development for managers as
educational leaders has been inadequate and could not satisfy the needs of
management. The ability needed by educators to perform certain administrative and
managerial tasks seems insufficient.Thesis (M.Sc (Education) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2010
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Dube, Wilhelminah S. "The induction of novice teachers in community junior secondary schools in Gaborone, Botswana." Diss., 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/1300.
Full textAbstract:
This study focuses on the induction of novice teachers in Community Junior Secondary Schools (CJSS) in Gaborone, Botswana. The point of departure is that induction is an important factor that is essential to the success of every beginner teacher. It is the responsibility of the school management to provide comprehensive induction programmes that will support beginner teachers and retain them in the teaching profession. This problem was investigated by means of a literature study and an empirical investigation using a qualitative approach. A small sample of beginner teachers in six selected schools in Gaborone formed the sample for this study. Findings indicated that the extent to which novice teachers are given professional guidance and support in schools is not enough. It is recommended that induction programmes receive more priority in schools since the first year of teaching is the most important determiner in the teaching career of an individual.Education management
M.Ed. (Education Management)
46
Kortjass, Dimakatso. "A post-graduate certification in education (PGCE) programme as preparation for Foundation Phase teachers : the experience of novice teachers in KwaZulu-Natal primary schools." Thesis, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10413/9121.
Full textAbstract:
This study seeks to investigate the extent to which novice Foundation Phase (FP) teachers
who are former Post-Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) students, perceive the
programme as adequate for preparing them to become Foundation Phase teachers.
Traditionally, the PGCE programme focuses on Senior and Further Education and Training
(FET) teachers and it is clear what disciplinary knowledge these students bring from their
undergraduate degrees. The disciplinary content knowledge that FP students bring to the
PGCE is less clear. Students with at least one major (third year level) subject and two
subjects at first year level, from the subject areas like Languages, Psychology and Sociology,
are accepted into the PGCE FP programme. The PGCE focuses primarily on developing
teaching skills. This study also seeks to determine in what ways the undergraduate degree
was of help in preparing them to become Foundation Phase teachers.
Individual interviews were conducted with six participants, who were practicing teachers,
from a group of thirty six students who completed the PGCE in 2008/2009. The study is
underpinned by Grossman's theory about teacher knowledge and teaching. Five of the
participants who were teaching in rural schools perceived the programme to be adequate.
They said that they acquired knowledge of psychological, sociological and linguistic
foundations of reading and writing; process and instruction; and that they gained knowledge
on how to plan for and use a wide range of curriculum materials. However one teacher, who
was teaching at an urban school, indicated that the programme was not very useful in
preparing her for Foundation Phase teaching. Rather, she perceived the knowledge she gained
at the school where she taught after completing the PGCE as being relevant. She cited that
she received support mainly from her mentor teacher who was her Head of Department.
These findings seem to suggest that novice teachers learn more in well-resourced schools
where there is good support and mentoring, whereas in poorly resourced schools that lack
instructional mentoring, teachers tend to rely more on what they learn in formal programmes
like the PGCE.Theses (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.
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Schoeman, Martha Anna. "An approach to facilitating the training of mobile agent programmers and encouraging the progression to an agent-oriented paradigm." Thesis, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/1590.
Full textAbstract:
Mobile agents hold significant benefits for the rapid expansion of Internet applications and current trends in computing. Despite continued interest, the promised deployment has not taken place, indicating a need for a programming model to introduce novice mobile agent programmers to this environment/paradigm. Accordingly the research question asked was, ”Since novice mobile agent programmers1 require a paradigm shift to construct successful systems, how can they be equipped to grasp the contextual issues and gain the necessary skills within reasonable time limits?” To answer the question, a complete reference providing contextual information and knowledge of mobile agent system development was compiled. Simultaneously novices are introduced to agent orientation. A generic mobile agent system architectural model, incorporating guidelines for programming mobile agents, further provides a framework that can be used to design a mobile agent system. These two structures are presented in a knowledge base that serves as a referencing tool to
unlock concepts and knowledge units to novices while developing mobile agent systems.Computing
(M.Sc. (Computer Science))
48
Schoeman, Martha Anna. "Enhancing comprehension in open distance learning computer programming education with visualization." Thesis, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/20715.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis describes a research project aimed at improving the tracing skills of first-year programming students enrolled for an introductory C++ course at an open distance learning institution by means of a tutorial in the form of a program visualization tool to teach the students to draw variable diagrams. The research was based on the findings from the BRACElet project (Clear, Whalley, Robbins, Philpott, Eckerdal, Laakso & Lister, 2011). A design-based research methodology was followed.
To guide the process of developing the tutorial, a framework of 26 guidelines for developing and using visualization tools to teach programming was synthesized from the literature on computing education research CER, educational psychology and computer graphics. Guidelines were supplemented with reasons or explanations for their recommendation and considerations to be taken into account when using a guideline. The framework was enhanced by lessons learnt during the development and testing of the tutorial.
The tutorial was tested and refined during two implementation cycles. Both cycles included quantitative and qualitative investigations. All students registered for the introductory module received the tool with their study material. For the quantitative investigations, students completed a questionnaire after using the tutorial. Through the questionnaire biographical data was acquired, the manner in which students used the tutorial and how they experienced using it. The responses to the questionnaires were statistically analysed in combination with respondents’ final marks. The statistical modelling indicated that the students’ biographical properties (a combination of level of programming experience, marks obtained for Mathematics and English in matric and first-time registration for COS1511 or not), had the biggest impact on their final marks by far.
During the qualitative investigations students were eye tracked in a Human-Computer Interaction laboratory. The gaze replays in both cycles revealed that students’ reading skills impacted largely on their success, connecting with the findings from the quantitative investigations.
Reflections on why the tutorial did not achieve its purpose; and why poor reading skills may have such a strong effect on learning to program, contribute some theoretical understanding as to how novices learn to program.Computer Science
D. Phil. (Computer Science)
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Polidarová, Zuzana. "Role školící sestry v adaptačním procesu sester na vybraném pracovišti." Master's thesis, 2021. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-438342.
Full textAbstract:
Introduction: A nurse preceptorship is essential in the transition period (TP) of novice nurses. Especially in intensive care workplaces, where training for highly specialized and demanding care is provided. TP thus becomes a sensitive period in which the employee decides whether to remain in the workplace or even in the profession. Methodology: This is qualitative study with the main focus of the survey on the specific experience of preceptors with TP management. Data collection was performed using semi-structured interviews with preceptor nurses in one selected workplace of intensive care. Data analysis was performed in 4 steps, open coding and sorting of data into categories and subcategories were used. Results: Six main topics were identified: Preceptors' experience from their own transition, TP organization attributes, Evaluation and feedback, The role of the preceptor nurse, Critical moments and Factors influencing the TP. The experience of trainers from their own TP is a significant predictor for their individual way of training and leading novice nurses. Evaluation and feedback have a culture and should be performed regularly in cycles to achieve the purpose. The preceptor has many roles, participates in the creation of social relationships with the novice, he himself strives to establish...
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Essa, Saadia Fahim. "Using an e-learning tool to overcome difficulties in learning object-oriented programming." Diss., 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/21218.
Full textAbstract:
This study was motivated by the need to overcome the pedagogical hindrances experienced by introductory object-oriented programming students in order to address the high attrition rate evident among novice programmers in distance education.
The initial phase of the research process involved exploring a variety of alternative visual programming environments for novices. Thereafter the selection process detailed several requirements that would define the ideal choice of the most appropriate tool. An educational tool Raptor was selected. Lastly, the core focus of this mixed method research was to evaluate undergraduate UNISA students’ perceptions of the Raptor e-learning tools with respect to the perceived effectiveness in enhancing novices’ learning experience, in an attempt to lower the barriers to object-oriented programming.
Students’ perceptions collectively of the Raptor visual tool were positive and despite the fact that the sample size was too small to achieve statistical significance, these quantitative and qualitative results provide the practical basis for implementing Raptor in future. Thus providing learning opportunities suited to learner interests and needs, can lead to an enormous potential to stimulate individuals’ motivation and development in creating a more positive learning experience to overcome barriers in
programming and enhance concept understanding to address the diverse needs of students in distance education that could lead to a reduced dropout rate.Computing
M. Sc. (Computing)