Contribution: In this study, an object tuple model has been proposed, and a quasi-experimental study on its usage in an introductory programming language course has been reported. This work can be adopted by all C language teachers and students in learning pointer and array-related concepts. Background: C language has been extensively employed in…

Contribution: Most work on languages in computing education currently focuses on non-native speakers. In contrast, to the best of the authors' knowledge, this article is the first response to the call for research on terms that takes into account the terms used by novices in their language. Background: Terms are key factors in communication,…

Contribution: In this article, the authors present findings and insights on the efficacy of using an educational block-based programming (BBP) environment--Blocks4DS, to teach the binary search tree (BST). Background: For a decade, BBP environments have been a hot topic in the computer science education (CSEd) community to promote interactive…

Contribution: A systematic literature review on the empirical evidence regarding the usage of programming languages for learning purposes is presented. The review analyzes different methods and tools at different educational levels and with different objectives. Background: Learning programming has gained relevance in the last decade. This is due…

In the wake of the so-called fourth industrial revolution, computer programming has become a foundational competency across engineering disciplines. Yet engineering students often resist the notion that computer programming is a skill relevant to their future profession. Here are presented two activities aimed at supporting the early development…

Contribution: The main contribution is to provide practitioners and researchers with an insight in efficiently and effectively employing multi-attribute decision making (MADM) methods in e-learning website selection problems. Background: Advances in information systems and the Internet have resulted in e-learning websites becoming an important…

Contribution: A systematic approach to MATLAB problem design and automated assessment is described, based on the experience working with the MATLAB server provided by MathWorks and integrated with the edX massive online open class (MOOC) platform. Background: New technologies, such as MOOCs, provide innovative methods to tackle new challenges in…

Contribution: This article presents the instruction of computer programming using adaptive learning activities considering students' cognitive skills based on the learning theory of the Revised Bloom Taxonomy (RBT). To achieve this, the system converts students' knowledge level to fuzzy weights, and using rule-based decision making, delivers…

Contribution: An online genetic algorithm-based remedial learning system is presented in order to strengthen students' understanding of object-oriented programming (OOP) concepts by tailoring personalized learning materials according to each student's strengths and weaknesses. Background: Prior studies on computer programming education have…

Contribution: Prior studies on tangible versus graphical user interfaces have reported controversial findings concerning children's preferences. This paper shows that their preference profiles in the domain of introductory programming are associated with gender and age for both interfaces. Background: The relevant literature mainly consists of…

Contribution: This research study deploys three serious games with various topics in an entry-level C Programming module and investigates students' learning outcomes. The study also explores whether learners belonging to different subgroups benefit more from the use of serious games than their peers. The subgroups are formed based on learner…

An increase in student motivation is often cited as an expected effect of software visualization, but, as far as the authors are aware, no controlled experiments have yet demonstrated this. This paper therefore presents a controlled evaluation of this effect, conducted within the framework of self-determination theory. Students were tasked with…

Contribution: This paper reports a curriculum development in hybrid problem-based learning (h-PBL), addresses the design, implementation, effectiveness, and assessment issues of h-PBL, and explains the mixed results observed regarding the impact of problem-based learning (PBL) on student grades from a hybrid perspective. Background: The effect of…

This paper describes a study of teaching a programming language in a C programming course by having students assemble and program a low-cost mobile robot. Writing their own programs to define the robot's behavior raised students' motivation. Working in small groups, students programmed the robots by using the control structures of structured…

This study explores students' cognitive processes while debugging programs by using an eye tracker. Students' eye movements during debugging were recorded by an eye tracker to investigate whether and how high- and low-performance students act differently during debugging. Thirty-eight computer science undergraduates were asked to debug two C…