Background: Studies on the effectiveness of block-based environments continue to produce inconsistent results. A strong reason for this is that most studies compare environments that are not equivalent to each other or to the level of learners. Moreover, studies that present evidence of the effectiveness of block-based environments by comparing…

Background: The degree to which Computer Science (CS) and Information Communication Technology (ICT) students are motivated to learn greatly impacts their study habits, academic achievement in school and ultimately their job prospects. In recent times, skills in programming languages have become vital in searching for employment. Objective: This…

Background: Feedback as one of the most influential factors for learning has been subject to a great body of research. It plays a key role in the development of educational technology systems and is traditionally rooted in deterministic feedback defined by experts and their experience. However, with the rise of generative AI and especially large…

Background: Effective learning in computer programming courses has been a constant challenge for university teachers and has become a relevant competence for current professionals. The literature on gamification in learning presents mixed results, mainly due to problems in instructional design and inconsistency in gamification. Studies with…

Background: Several attitude scales have been developed to measure students' attitudes toward computer programming, including the prominent one developed by Cetin and Ozden. The development of these scales stemmed from the elusive nature of attitude and the lack of specific constructs to measure attitude. These instruments measure students'…

The study designed WebQuest activities and explored the learning performance of learners to understand the suitability of using WebQuest in a college programming course. The study modified the processes of WebQuest based on social constructivism and scaffolding learning, and included programming tasks such as debugging practice to encourage…

Background: Problem-solving is a multidimensional and dynamic process that requires and interlinks cognitive, metacognitive, and affective dimensions of learning. However, current approaches practiced in computing education research (CER) are not sufficient to capture information beyond the basic programming process data (i.e., IDE-log data).…

Computational thinking (CT), the ability to devise computational solutions for real-life problems, has received growing attention from both educators and researchers. To better improve university students' CT competence, collaborative programming is regarded as an effective learning approach. However, how novice programmers develop CT competence…