The use of coding competitions as a learning motivation for programming students in Higher Education

Coding competitions have become a powerful pedagogical tool to enhance student engagement and motivation in higher education programming courses. These competitions provide a dynamic learning environment that encourages problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaboration among students. This paper reports on the results of an annual coding competition for undergraduate students at the National University of Samoa and discussed its achieved results. The initiative started in 2020 when an increased number of students took programming courses. There were a lot of challenges in teaching programming [1] and this approach was used as a learning motivation for students. From the observations of the first ever competition, students demonstrated motivation in learning programming and show great improvement with their programming skills in class. Students also reported the positive impact of the competition on them; it has inspired them to learn effectively and help them to achieve better results in their programming classes.