The global shortage of skilled programmers remains a persistent challenge. High dropout rates in introductory programming courses pose a significant obstacle to graduation. Previous studies highlighted learning difficulties in programming students, but their specific weaknesses remained unclear. This gap exists due to the predominant focus on the…

Integrated computing curricula combine learning objectives in computing with those in another discipline, like literacy, math, or science, to give all students experience with computing, typically before they must decide whether to take standalone CS courses. One goal of integrated computing curricula is to provide an accessible path to an…

Introductory computer programming (i.e. CS1) is the entry point into the computer science major at higher education institutions worldwide. It introduces foundational concepts to students that are then built upon in future courses. Computer science as a whole has struggled to attract and retain students in the major, particularly women and…

This qualitative research used the tenants of phenomenological research to structure a study that begins to identify faculty coordinator's decision processes in selecting a general education mathematics course. In this study, I examined the question if a faculty member's experiences or beliefs had any influence on the decision process. The…

This dissertation presents the results and outcomes of an effort to design educational tools and curriculum to improve student learning in introductory programming courses. The work was conducted at the University of California, Merced (UC Merced), situated in the Central Valley of California, and home to a diverse student population. The findings…

Computer science (CS) has been identified as one of the fastest-growing professions, with demand for CS professionals far outpacing the supply of CS graduates. The necessity for a trained CS workforce has compelled industry and academia to evaluate strategies for broadening participation in CS. The current literature in CS education emphasizes the…

The software industry spends a tremendous amount of effort and resources on software testing and maintenance to improve the quality of software. However, a large portion of the cost may be saved by training high-quality software developers with better Computer Science education. Skilled software developers can not only produce code of fewer bugs…

This study investigates the delivery of the "Hour of Code" tutorials to college students. The college students who participated in this study were surveyed about their opinion of the Hour of Code. First, the students' comments were discussed. Next, a content analysis of the offered tutorials highlights their reliance on visual…

The teaching-learning methodology adopted in the Introduction to Computer Science classes may be a process that makes it difficult to understand the principles of programming language for undergraduate students in Computer Science and related areas, generating high failure and course drop out rates. This paper presents an analysis of the results…

This paper describes an interdisciplinary effort involving faculty from five different disciplines who came together to develop an interdisciplinary, open, general education cybersecurity course. The course, Cybersecurity, Technology, and Society, brings together ideas from interdisciplinary studies, information technology, engineering, business,…

In this paper we present a software platform called Chatbot designed to introduce high school students to Computer Science (CS) concepts in an innovative way: by programming chatbots. A chatbot is a bot that can be programmed to have a conversation with a human or robotic partner in some natural language such as English or Spanish. While…

The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of the design of a first year introduction to digital fluency course primarily for a library and information technology cohort at a Canadian university using an educational action research method and apply the findings to the second "question-plan-observe-evaluate" cycle of the action…

Aim/Purpose: The dynamic nature of the information systems (IS) field presents educators with the perpetual challenge of keeping course offerings current and relevant. This paper describes the process at a College of Business (COB) to redesign the introductory IS course to better prepare students for advanced business classes and equip them with…

Designing and deploying programming courses is undoubtedly a challenging task. In this paper, an attempt to analyze important aspects of a sequence of two courses on imperative-procedural and object-oriented programming in a non-CS majors Department is made. This analysis is based on a questionnaire filled in by fifty students in a voluntary…

This research study investigated the effectiveness of pair programming as a pedagogical tool measured by final course grades. It also aims to examine the experience perceptions of students regarding its implementation in an introductory computer programming course at a community college. In this study, a quantitative and qualitative approach was…