Programming Challenges

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Programming Challenges

• Paul McMullan
• School of Computer Science
• Queens University of Belfast

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Picture this

• Student meets their Final Year IT Project
  Supervisor for the first time
• Supervisor So, lets try to figure out a
  suitable project for you to work on
• Student Okay, but as long as it doesnt involve
  any programming I dont like that!
• Supervisor places head in hands

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The problem with Programming

• Too often a student reaches final year without
  the required expertise / background in
  programming
• This is a crucial time for these skills to be
  utilised
• Many students are poorly equipped and grades can
  suffer as a result
• and these are the lucky ones!

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The problem with Programming

• Many students can reach final year by avoiding
  having to program to any great level of
  competency
• Less fortunate students find the concepts or
  work too difficult to grasp, especially those
  with no previous exposure to programming
• Programming alone can cause many students to
  withdraw or change degree pathways / career paths
• Does this mean Computer Science was not for them??

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Programming at QUB

• Level 1 programming has been semi-notorious for
  many years
• Main barrier preventing progression or skills
  development
• General (old school) consensus was
• If they cant program, they shouldnt be in the
  degree!
• However, IT these days is not all about
  programming many IT professionals will never be
  involved in application development
• Useful for background, but not always essential

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Programming at QUB

• Main problems faced traditionally
• High Fail rates
• High dropout rates
• 35 average drop-out rate (withdrawn or failure)
  over last 5 years
• Rate was increasing over this period
• Many progressing students had low level of
  programming competency

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Programming at QUB

• Main causes
• Expectation on Students quite high
• Level of material dense, unclear or inappropriate
• Programming Language complex (for beginners)
• Delivery either obtuse or assuming some previous
  knowledge
• Lecturer (may!) know what they are talking about,
  but simply cant get it across

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Java

• Java main programming language taught at Queens
• Advantages
• Free / Available to Students
• Wide support network, copious helpful
  documentation
• Professional Development Platform
• Disadvantages
• A tough introductory language to learn (Objects,
  etc.)
• No Integrated Development Environment (IDE),
  unlike Visual Studio or Delphi

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Module Review

• Main goals for the Review
• Allow beginners / weaker students a fair chance
  at programming
• Do not put them at a disadvantage if they are
  weak in this particular aspect of IT
• Keep stronger students motivated
• Better Student tracking - Identify at-risk
  students
• Avoid drop-outs - potentially worth an extra 2 /
  3 years of fees per student
• Java still an ideal platform for learning just
  need to make it more accessible to all

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Dangers

• Change programming language may not equip
  students properly (too simple), may not be
  available / free
• Lighten the amount of material again, danger of
  too little useful info, stronger students may get
  bored and unmotivated, danger from the dumbing
  down effect
• Keep a tighter grip on student progress
  students feel pressurised, intimidated the big
  brother effect
• More assistance and help provided danger of
  spoon-feeding, remove the benefit of learning
  from mistakes

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Proposed Steps

• New (softer) degree to run in parallel with
  traditional Computer Science degree
• Some commonality, but emphasis on programming
  skills main difference
• Assessment reflects this emphasis students can
  choose how they are graded
• Lecture material to be made User Friendly
  gentle learning curves
• Tracking / Resources attendance (lectures and
  practicals) monitored regularly with meetings,
  all resources available to students

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Fundamentals / Challenges

• All students enrol to Fundamentals of
  Programming module
• Computer Science degree (traditional)
• Programming competency quite high (greater
  emphasis)
• Modules at a lower level of IT competency
• Students also enrol to Programming Challenges
• Computer Information Technology
• Less emphasis on Programming (some modules at
  higher level than Computer Science
• Students remain at the Fundamentals level of
  programming

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Fundamentals / Challenges

• Students can choose which pathway they feel is
  best for them
• Confident or Weak students can choose early
• Undecided can choose along the way originally
  difficult concepts can click for them
• Recommendation to undecided is to assume a
  Challenges pathway and change if required
• Students who grasp concepts late into the year
  can still pass the Challenges progression
  requirements provided their marks are reasonable

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Assessment

• Main difference between Fundamentals and
  Challenges (apart from Pathway itself) is how
  students are marked
• All students undertake the same core exercises /
  tests / exam questions
• Fundamentals students marks are based on 100
  of this
• Challenges students must complete extra (more
  challenging) work to attain a potential 100
• The Fundamentals core assessment material is
  roughly two-thirds of the full challenges
  material

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Structure

• Module now spans 2 Semesters (was originally just
  one) broken into two distinct halves
• First half deals with basic introductory
  concepts
• Statements, Syntax, Variables, Logic, Selection,
  Iteration, Methods
• No Object-orientation Objects are simply
  Variables at this point
• Second half introduces further concepts
• Data Structures, Objects, Algorithms, GUI
• More emphasis on how to use what has been learnt
  before

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Structure

• Each semester of material has a similar learning
  curve
• Introductory concepts are delivered slowly,
  allowing a bedding in
• Second half of each semester starts to ramp up
• At this point students will have had time to
  ingest concepts, completed practical work, made
  their necessary mistakes and generally start to
  understand what they are doing
• At no point is Recursion mentioned!

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Main Assessment Breakdown

• Semester 1 and 2
• Practical sessions (seen)
• Class Test (unseen)
• Practical exams (unseen)
• 30 for each semester
• End of Semester 2
• Written exam
• 40 - 2 questions
• Exam and later assessments broken into
  Fundamentals / Challenges sections

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Teaching

• Teaching Material required a major revamp
• Separated into two distinct, but linked
  deliveries
• Very gentle learning curve for first half of each
  semester
• Material to appear light and friendly, while not
  sacrificing detail or required information
• Closely linked to practical exercises students
  not expected to tackle exercises which havent
  been introduced (at least) in class
• Better ways required to get concepts across and
  help students remember what theyve been taught

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Teaching

• Main techniques to explain concepts
• Lots of analogies to familiar aspects of students
  life
• No confusion with Objects variables only at
  this point
• Repetition, Repetition, Repetition
• Speed tricky introductory concepts (such as
  Variables) taken slowly
• Layering introducing a little at a time, then
  building e.g. data types integer, double,
  String to begin with
• Familiarity same set of example programs used
  from start, but expanded or modified as new
  topics introduced

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Other Techniques

• Pop quiz
• Millionaire style multiple choice one
  question, four possible answers
• Students keep track of their own score not
  assessed formally
• Full explanations and run-through of the correct
  answer and reasons why
• Some tricky questions Cant assume the
  obvious answer is the correct one
• Light-hearted, provided good interaction,
  students seemed to enjoy it to a certain extent

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Other Techniques

• Continual Reassurance
• Inform the student that this is renowned as a
  difficult subject
• If they struggle, its not because they are
  stupid, but that it is indeed tough
• Practice is important, no matter how discouraged
  they feel getting to that Eureka moment
• Mistakes are good best way of learning
• Sympathy everyone goes through the same
  problems few find it straightforward
• Encouraging the use of lecturer / practical
  assistants / background info

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Useful Examples

• Real-World or amusing examples to explain
  difficult concepts got a very positive reaction
  from students
• Helps them learn, but also reinforces
  associations
• For example, comparing Black, Blue, Brown
  Wheely bins to Variables of different data
  types can only put items of certain type into
  corresponding appropriate location
• A light-hearted example was the use of Pirates
  to explain returning values from a Method

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Pirates

• Pirates find and board a ship, to steal their
  treasure chest
• Like all good pirates, they scuttle the ship and
  make the crew walk the plank
• Unfortunately its only then they find the
  treasure and realise its in a safe, securely
  attached to the ship itself
• Meanwhile, the ship is sinking fast
• Luckily they manage to find the key in time and
  get the safe open
• The treasure is grabbed and taken off the
  almost-submerged ship and onto the pirate ship

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Example

• Although this may seem like a meaningless little
  story, it very effectively explains what happens
  when trying to return values from Methods
• Students get confused with the idea of local
  variables in Methods and Scope
• The variables themselves are not returned, but
  the contents
• When a Method is exited, any variables are
  destroyed but the values (valuables?) can be
  saved and sent back to the original calling
  Method (pirate ship)

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Tracking

• Attendance recorded for Practicals (compulsory to
  attend, assessed or otherwise)
• Attendance recorded for first 6 weeks of
  Lectures, then randomly for next 6 weeks
• Students not handed out lecture material directly
  must download online tracking kept of who has
  downloaded what
• Students informed of all this, but reassured that
  it is to identify people in trouble, not to try
  to penalise or catch people out

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Current Results

• Lecture Attendance over 90 first half of
  semester, remained at 60-80 latter half
• Student evaluation feedback (taken twice)
  extremely positive (4.8 and 4.4 / 5.0)
• Drop-out rate (withdrawn students) decreased from
  same time last year (roughly worked out as 4 of
  class as opposed to 15) exact figures will be
  determined later in year
• Practical assessment results for first semester
  greatly improved over previous year

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Current Results

• Some anecdotal feedback
• Practical assistants reported that weaker
  students (who traditionally do not fully complete
  exercise), came well prepared, were tending to
  stick at it, and most were able to complete
  within the the time allotted
• Stronger students found the extra challenge
  exercises interesting and did not leave early
• Advisor of Studies reported it noticeable that
  fewer students had come to him with problems in
  relation to this module than in previous years
• A repeating student (who had attended and failed
  the programming module last year) claimed to have
  been delighted to have written his first program
  single-handedly for the first time

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Conclusions

• Experience (and mistakes) has been useful in
  revamping and improving this module
• Students have responded well to being treated
  with understanding and as equals
• Initial results have been very encouraging!