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Chair of Softw are Engineering
Context
Introduction to Programming course at ETH Zurich Since 2003
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Student diversity in CS1 y ECSS Paris October 2009 ECSS, Paris, - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Student diversity in CS1 y ECSS Paris October 2009 ECSS, Paris, - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Chair of Softw are Engineering Student diversity in CS1 y ECSS Paris October 2009 ECSS, Paris, October 2009 Michela Pedroni Bertrand Meyer (ETH) y ( ) Manuel Oriol (University of York, UK) Context Introduction to Programming course at
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Motivation
To “know your audience” is one of the fundamental rules of y mass communication In introductory programming courses: y p g g high diversity of prior knowledge
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Study setup
Questionnaire on computing and programming knowledge
- Computer literacy
p y
- Programming experience
- Programming languages
g g g g Participants of ETH Changes over years? p f
- Beginning of Introduction to Programming 2003-2008
- On paper (2003), later online
On paper ( 003), later onl ne
- Answers from 753 of 1130 CS students
Participants of University of York Participants of University of York
- 2008 only
- Online
Differences between institutions?
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- Online
- Answers from 77 of 101 CS & Math students
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Computer usage
1 year: 0% (0%, 0%, 1%)
Averages over 5 years, 2003-2007
2 to 4 years: 3%
(3%, 4%, 1%, 6%)
5 to 9 years: 42%
(35%, 48%, 35%, 55%)
2003 2007 (yearly variations small)
y
(62%, 48%, 63%)
10 years: 59%
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Programming experience
60% 70% 50% 60% s
Small O-O programs
30% 40% students
No O-O
10% 20%
No programming
0% 10% 03 04 05 06 07 08 08
Large* programs
03 04 05 06 07 08 08 ETH York
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Where learning occurs
60% 70% 40% 50% ts
Self-study
30% 40% student
Self study At high school
10% 20%
At high school Other
0% 03 04 05 06 07 08 08
At university Other
03 04 05 06 07 08 08 ETH York
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Number of languages known well or very well
50%
1-2
30% 40% s
None
20% 30% students
3 or more
10% 0% 03 04 05 06 07 08 08 03 04 05 06 07 08 08 ETH York
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Languages known by most students
1st place 2nd place 3rd place 2003 Basic Pascal C++ 2004 Eiffel C++ JavaScript ETH 2004 Eiffel C++ JavaScript 2005 C++ Java PHP ETH 2006 PHP JavaScript Java 2007 PHP Java JavaScript/C++ 2008 PHP C C 2008 PHP C++ C York 2008 VisualBasic JavaScript PHP
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p
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Comparisons
Changes over the years (ETH only)
- Many differences between 2003 and later years: In
y y 2003, less exposure to computers, less programming experience, less languages known well/very well
- Only punctual differences involving other years:
Laptop, specific programming languages (Basic and Eiffel) Eiffel) York vs. ETH (2008 only) Situation is stable
- Only punctual differences
- BSD operating system, computer tasks
- Different knowledge of Java and VisualBasic
Si il t b th i tit ti
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Similar at both institutions
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Implications on teaching
Students are mostly computer literate, but very diverse
- ~1/3 programming novices
p g g
- ~1/3 know one or two languages well or very well
- ~1/3 know more than two languages
g g Situation is stable and similar at two institutions Is this a global phenomenon? Need more data… g p m m Develop measures to adapt to diverse student body
- Teaching methodology: software framework
- Teaching methodology: software framework,
programming language choice, relate to prior knowledge g
- Extra lessons for novices (e.g. CS0)
- Making student groups
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g g p
- Individualized instruction
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A complementary experiment
How are we doing? Test in 2nd year, programming questions; first experience in February 2009 Language-independent, but uses programming language taught in introductory course Analysis: 3 equal categories Will do it again in February 2010
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If u illin t p ti ip t in th studi s If you are willing to participate in the studies, please write to pedronim@inf.ethz.ch
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