Intervening with At-risk Freshmen in Programming-Methodologies and Designs

Our recent teaching of programming courses has witnessed significant non-success rate among freshmen, echoing the observations reported by other institutions. This work represents a systematic study on the methodologies to intervene with at-risk CS/IT freshmen in computer programming, which integrates best-practices in the literature and our innovations. Grounded on Self-Determination Theory, we propose methodologies that embrace four major principles. First, embed fundamental concepts in a CS0 class. Second, adopt themes in selfmotivated topics that reflect intrinsic interests of freshmen. Third, progression from low-floor block languages to general languages. Fourth, adopt hybrid assessment tools that encourage handson, collaboration and ipsative improvement. A CS0 course is implemented to validate the soundness of the proposed methodologies. Based on student questionnaire feedback and hypothesis testing, this work uncovers three major findings in intervening at-risk freshmen in programming. First, core programming concepts conveyed in block languages can facilitate the learning of respective concepts in general languages. Second, self-motivated topics contribute to students’ learning of programming, and can retain their interests post-course. Third, ipsative assessment can considerably contribute to students’ mastery of programming concepts.