The effect of different communicating modes to computers on students' attitudes toward programing was studied. In a computer-related course, 13 students used batch processing mode to solve problems on the computer, while 12 other students used conversational mode to solve the same problems. It was found that those students accessing the computer…

A description is provided of a computer system designed to aid in the analysis of student programing work. The first section of the report consists of an overview and user's guide. In it, the system input is described in terms of a "dribble file" which records all student inputs generated; also an introduction is given to the aids…

A computer-assisted instructional system to teach college students the computer language, AID (Algebraic Interpretive Dialogue), two control programs, and data collected by the two control programs are described. It was found that although first response errors were often those of AID syntax, such errors were easily corrected. Secondly, while…

The average of student evaluations for each section of a computer programming course correlated positively with the average of student performance on a standardized final examination. A multisection method, with randomized assignment of instructors to conditions, was used and an unconfounded comparison between feedback and nonfeedback conditions…

Assessed was the influence of grade placement on programing aptitude and programing achievement. High school students comprised one group and college students a second group. A significant difference in programing aptitude was found between groups. (FL)

Subjects taught by a model performed better on interpretation of programs and on problems requiring looping, while nonmodel subjects excelled on straightforward generation of programs. The model used was especially helpful for low ability subjects. Practice in interpretation helped nonmodel subjects most and practice in writing simple programs…

This manual is the student's main source of information about the BASIC Instructional Program (BIP), a "hands-on laboratory" that teaches elementary programming in the BASIC language, and the BASIC language itself. The manual is organized as a reference document for students with no previous programming experience. Three major sections…

This manual is the student's main source of information about the BASIC Instructional Program (BIP), a "hands-on laboratory" that teaches elementary programming in the BASIC language, which has been converted into MAINSAIL, a language designed for portability on a broad class of computers. The manual is organized as a reference document…

In order to assess faculty and student use of, and attitudes toward, instructional computing at Dartmouth College, faculty members and students were surveyed during the spring of 1981 to determine how computing was being used in Dartmouth courses. Each of the 450 faculty members who taught an on-campus course from summer 1980 through spring 1981…

The development and evaluation of a series of hypermedia tools designed to help students learn to program in PASCAL or LISP are described. Classroom trials with 171 college students illustrate use of the developed tools. The use of hypermedia to foster integrated understanding is discussed. (SLD)

The characteristics of jobs that constitute the mix for lower division FORTRAN classes in a university were investigated. Samples of these programs were also benchmarked on a larger central site computer and two minicomputer systems. It was concluded that a carefully chosen minicomputer system could offer service at least the equivalent of the…

The final report of this study describes the objectives and plan of attack used for determining how novice students learn to interact with a computer and how instruction can result in meaningful learning. Changes to the original plans and significant outcomes are mentioned. The final report concludes with abstracts of research findings on the…

In an attempt to selectively improve student performance, one-half of a set of difficult test items from a FORTRAN programming class had handouts explaining the concepts underlying the items distributed to the students. Each handout contained a written learning objective, a short prose passage explaining the objective, and one or more practice…

Research directed toward a better understanding of the computer user/computer machine relationship has increased in recent years. To identify what factors may predict success in computer programming, 286 college students from three computer classes (160 from introductory programming; 60 from Cobol programming; and 66 from senior level programming)…

The purpose of this study was to compare experimentally the relative effectiveness of two instructional media--a computer-based display unit and a programed-text booklet--for presenting selected instructional units of a common program for teaching FORTRAN IV. In conducting the study a common program for teaching FORTRAN was prepared and presented…