Students’ Perception about Fundamental Programming Course Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Programming learning has unique characteristics as it is a subject that requires skill and higher order thinking. Students come to class with a perception about the subject mostly obtained from their seniors including fear or perceived difficulty. Senior students have a perception about programming learning that was supported by their experience during the subject learning. Students’ views (+ / -) about the course could affect their performance. A qualitative survey was conducted with 93 third year students to obtain their views about the students’ point of views while learning programming and the recommendation for modifying the course. Obstacles identified by students could be tackled with the aid of technology enhanced learning (TEL) including tutoring system. This survey is done as a preliminary step in developing and incorporating technical solution to students’ problems. The findings were: Mostly, students are satisfied with the amount of time and effort they dedicated to the subject. While some mentioned that they would practice coding more and perform some projects beyond the course level. Majority of the students pointed out that they got useful advice from seniors about the subject learning. Less feedback was discouraging to students. About their suggested modification about the way the course setup, their overall responses approved the course design. There were minor comments about the proportions of the theoretical to practical components and the suitable amount of assignments.