Operation Java blitz: extracurricular programming workshops to engage it students

ABSTRACT

An engaging context has been shown to improve student motivation and performance in programming courses. Therefore, we incorporated six hands-on, supplementary, voluntary workshops (called Operation Java Blitz, or OJB) on subjects that were not exhaustively included in the current programming curriculum in Spring 2014. The poster will discuss the sessions, the initial results from 34 students, and future plans.

References

1. Douglas, J., R. McClelland, and J. Davies, The development of a conceptual model of student satisfaction with their experience in higher education. Quality Assurance in Education, 2008. 16(1): p. 19--35.
2. Furnham, A., A. Eracleous, and T. Chamorro-Premuzic, Personality, motivation and job satisfaction: Hertzberg meets the Big Five. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 2009. 24(8): p. 765--779.
3. Bennedsen, J. and M.E. Caspersen, Failure rates in introductory programming. SIGCSE Bulletin, 2007. 39(2): p. 32--36.
4. Bergin, S. and R. Reilly. The influence of motivation and comfort-level on learning to program. in Proceedings of the 17th Annual Workshop of the Psychology of Programming Interest Group (WPPI). 2005.
5. Guzdial, M. and A.E. Tew. Imagineering Inauthentic Legitimate Peripheral Participation: An Instructional Design Approach for Motivating Computing Education. in International Workshop on Computing Education Research 2006. Canterbury, United Kingdom: ACM.

Index Terms

• Social and professional topics

  • Professional topics

    • Computing education

      • Computing education programs

        • Computer science education