Senior university students taking an internationally distributed project course in computer systems find themselves in a complex learning situation. To understand how they experience computer systems and act in their learning situation, the what, the why, the how and the where of their learning have been studied from the students’ perspective. The what aspect concerns the students’ understanding of concepts within computer systems: network protocols. The why aspect concerns the students’ objectives to learn computer systems. The how aspect concerns how the students go about learning. The where aspect concerns the students’ experience of their learning environment. These metaphorical entities are then synthesised to form a whole. The emphasis on the students’ experience of their learning motivates a phenomenographic research approach as the core of a study that is extended with elements of activity theory. The methodological framework that is developed from these research approaches enables the researcher to retain focus on learning, and specifically the learning of computer systems, throughout. By applying the framework, the complexity in the learning is unpacked and conclusions are drawn on the students’ learning of computer systems. The results are structural, qualitative, and empirically derived from interview data. They depict the students’ experience of their learning of computer systems in their experienced learning situation and highlight factors that facilitate learning. The results comprise sets of qualitatively different categories that describe how the students relate to their learning in their experienced learning environment. The sets of categories, grouped after the four components (what, why, how and where), are synthesised to describe the whole of the students’ experience of learning computer systems. This study advances the discussion about learning computer systems and demonstrates how theoretically anchored research contributes to teaching and learning in the field. Its multi-faceted, multi-disciplinary character invites further debate, and thus, advances the field.

Computer programming is a core area in computer science education that involves practical as well as conceptual learning goals. The literature in programming education reports however that novice students have great problems in their learning. These problems apply to concepts as well as to practise. The empirically based research presented in this thesis contributes to the body of knowledge on students' learning by investigating the relationship between conceptual and practical learning in novice student learning of programming. Previous research in programming education has focused either on students' practical or conceptual learning. The present research indicates however that students' problems with learning to program partly depend on a complex relationship and mutual dependence between the two. The most significant finding is that practise, in terms of activities at different levels of proficiency, and qualitatively different conceptual understandings, have dimensions of variation in common. An analytical model is suggested where the dimensions of variation relate both to concepts and activities. The implications of the model are several. With the dimensions of variation at the center of learning this implies that when students discern a dimension of variation, related conceptual understandings and the meaning embedded in related practises can be discerned. Activities as well as concepts can relate to more than one dimension. Activities at a higher level of proficiency, as well as qualitatively richer understandings of concepts, relate to more dimensions of variation. Concrete examples are given on how variation theory and patterns of variation can be applied in teaching programming. The results can be used by educators to help students discern dimensions of variation, and thus facilitate practical as well as conceptual learning.

Only an Afrikaans abstract is available. Die astronomiese ontwikkeling van informasie kommunikasie tegnologie (IKT) hou verreikende gevolge in vir elke lewensfeer in die twintigste eeu. Spesifiek op die terrein van produksie en oordrag van kennis, twee kernfunksies van hoer onderwys, hou IKT nie net ‘n bedreiging in vir die tradisionele wyse waarop hierdie kernfunksies vervul word nie, maar bied ook moontlik die uitdagings van toegang, koste, buigsaamheid en kwaliteit waarmee universiteite gekonfronteer word. Waar die toepassing van tegnologie in afstandsonderrig reeds help om bogenoemde uitdagings aan te spreek, is dieselfde resultate meer ontwykend in tradisionele residensiële universiteite soos Rhodes Universiteit. Verder is universiteite meer geneë om IKT in navorsing en administratiewe prosesse te gebruik, as in onderrig en leer. Hierdie opstel fokus dus op die behoeftes en verwagtings van onderrigpersoneel aan Rhodes Universiteit om IKT te gebruik om die onderig-en-leerproses te verryk. Die rasionaal vir die gebruik van IKT fokus op die veranderende omgewing waarin hoër onderwys fungeer, die veranderende konsepte van kennis en kennisproduksie, en die oënskynlike potensiaal van IKT om onderwys te verbeter. Daarteenoor word die wyse waarop IKT gebruik word bespreek teen die agtergrond van voorvereistes vir suksesvolle integrasie en praktiese toepassings van tegnologie in onderrig en leer. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Curriculum Studies / Unrestricted

This project designs and implements a tool to enhance the current means of availing coursework information in educational systems.

Expository instructions, worked examples, and subgoal labels have all been shown to positively impact student learning and performance in computer science education. This study examined whether learning and problem solving performance differed based on the sequence of the instructional materials (expository and worked examples) and the presence of subgoal labels within the instructional materials. Participants were 138 undergraduate college students, age 17-25, who watched two instructional videos on creating an application in the App Inventor programming language before completing several learning assessments. A significant interaction showed that when learners were presented with the worked example followed by the expository instructions containing subgoal labels, the learner was better at outlining the procedure for creating an application. These manipulations did not affect cognitive load, novel problem solving performance, explanations of solutions, or the amount of time spent on instructions and completing the assessments. These results suggest that the order instructional materials are presented have has little impact on problem solving, although some benefit can be gained from presenting the worked example before the expository instructions when subgoal labels are included. This suggests the order the instructions are presented to learners does not impact learning. Previous studies demonstrating an effect of subgoal labels used text instructions as opposed to the video instructions used in the present study. Future research should investigate how these manipulations differ for text instructions and video instructions.

Research in academia and industry continues to identify a decline in enrollment in computer science. One major component of this decline in enrollment is a shortage of female students. The primary reasons for the gender gap presented in the research include lack of computer experience prior to their first year in college, misconceptions about the field, negative cultural stereotypes, lack of female mentors and role models, subtle discriminations in the classroom, and lack of self-confidence (Pollock, McCoy, Carberry, Hundigopal, & You, 2004). Male students are also leaving the field due to misconceptions about the field, negative cultural stereotypes, and a lack of self-confidence. Analysis of first year attrition revealed that one of the major challenges faced by students of both genders is a lack of problem-solving skills (Beaubouef, Lucas & Howatt, 2001; Olsen, 2005; Paxton & Mumey, 2001). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether specific, non-mathematical problem-solving instruction as part of introductory programming courses significantly increased computer programming self-efficacy and achievement of students. The results of this study showed that students in the experimental group had significantly higher achievement than students in the control group. While this shows statistical significance, due to the effect size and disordinal nature of the data between groups, care has to be taken in its interpretation. The study did not show significantly higher programming self-efficacy among the experimental students. There was not enough data collected to statistically analyze the effect of the treatment on self-efficacy and achievement by gender. However, differences in means were observed between the gender groups, with females in the experimental group demonstrating a higher than average degree of self-efficacy when compared with males in the experimental group and both genders in the control group. These results suggest that the treatment from this study may provide a gender-based increase in self-efficacy and future research should focus on exploring this possibility.

Student Number : 8109673 - MSc research report - School of Science Education - Faculty of Science / Many students fail the Fundamental Algorithmic Concepts course, in first year Computer Science at the University of the Witwatersrand. To obtain an understanding of why this occurs, the learning styles and learning approaches of the students studying the course and the relationship of these concepts with student grades were researched. A predominately qualitative paradigm was used, supplemented with quantitative data. Two research designs were selected: a survey to get a broad overview of the sample and an ethnographic design to provide an in-depth description of a small group. Existing instruments were used for the survey, namely Felder and Soloman’s Index of Learning Styles and a learning approach diagnostic test that was constructed in South Africa. An interview with open-ended questions was used for the ethnographic research. Contrary to expectations, the results of the study indicated that the adoption of a deep learning approach did not imply success. The findings suggest that a strategic learning approach may be required to achieve good grades. In contrast to other studies, over 65% of the sample population were black students. It was found that black students tend to adopt a deeper learning approach than the rest of the students. From a learning style perspective there was some new evidence to indicate that the more intuitive or global a student was, the deeper the approach the student adopted to learning. A large percentage (over 80%) of the population were visual learners and an unusually high percentage (over 60%) were reflective learners. The lecturer should match the workload and assessment methods with the desired learning approach of the students. The lecturer should also encourage the students to adopt a strategic learning approach where appropriate. In addition, the lecturer should pay particular attention to incorporating teaching styles that accommodate students with visual and active learning style preferences.

A educação mediada por computador tem sido amplamente utilizada em vários níveis educacionais em todo o mundo. Os rápidos avanços tecnológicos nas áreas de telecomunicação e computação têm incentivado esta estratégia de ensino. Neste trabalho testou-se a efetividade de um material didático envolvendo conceitos básicos de neurofisiologia, direcionado para alunos do ensino médio, com o objetivo de instruir e divulgar a ciência, através de animações interativas criadas na plataforma Flash (Adobe®) de programação e animação. Alunos de Ensino Médio e Ensino Superior expostos a esse material foram questionados em relação à aceitação e avaliados quanto à efetividade do programa. Além disso, um grupo focal envolvendo professores da rede pública do Ensino Médio participou de um debate para avaliar suas impressões sobre o programa e sua aceitabilidade. Os resultados mostraram que os alunos avaliados tiveram bom desempenho depois de estudarem por meio da utilização do programa, sugerindo que o mesmo foi eficiente na apresentação de conceitos de neurofisiologia. O programa foi utilizado por alunos do Ensino Médio nos anos de 2004 a 2006 e seu desempenho foi comparado ao de alunos de 2003, no qual foram ministradas somente aulas tradicionais. O desempenho dos alunos que utilizaram o programa foi superior em neurofisiologia quando comparado com seu próprio desempenho nos demais conteúdos de biologia. Além disso, as notas dos alunos em neurofisiologia foram superiores em 2004 e 2005 em relação às dos alunos de 2003. Os alunos do Ensino Superior que utilizaram o programa também obtiveram melhor desempenho nas suas avaliações semestrais nos conteúdos abordados no programa em relação aos alunos que tiveram somente aulas tradicionais. As impressões dos professores do Ensino Médio foram positivas quanto à utilização do programa como ferramenta de ensino. Os resultados em conjunto sugerem que o programa tem potencial para ensino de conceitos básicos de neurofisiologia para alunos de Ensino Médio e Superior. / Computer mediated education has been widely used in several educational levels around the world. The fast technological advances in telecommunication and computer science have encouraged this teaching strategy. In this work, the effectiveness of a didactic material involving basic concepts of neurophysiology, directed for college students, with the objective of instructing e disclose science through interactive animations created on Flash (Adobe®) programming platform. College and High School students exposed to this material were questioned in relation to acceptance and evaluated on the effectiveness of the program. Beyond that, a focus group involving teachers from public college schools participated on a debate to evaluate their impressions on the program and its acceptability. Results show that students evaluated had a good performance after studying through the program, suggesting that it was efficient on presenting neurophysiology concepts. The program was used by college students from year 2004 to 2006 and their performance was compared to students of 2003, when only traditional classes were taught. Performance of the students who used the program was superior in neurophysiology when compared to their own performance in other contents of biology. Beyond that, students grades on neurophysiology were superior in 2004 and 2005 in relation to the students grades in 2003. High School students that used the program also had better performance in their biannual evaluation tests on the contents addressed in the program in relation to the students who only had traditional classes. College teachers impressions about the use of the program as a teaching tool were positive. Together, these results suggest that the program has potential use in teaching basic neurophysiology concepts for College and High School students.

This study provides a definition of scientific literacy applicable to secondary school science students. The definition was developed from theories about cognitive processes, the discourse of science, the language register of science and cognitive writing processes. A computer-assisted Scientific Literacy Development Plan was formulated and classroom research undertaken to test its effectiveness. A model of cognitive writing was used as an application of the Scientific Literacy Development Plan in classroom research. The model is called a HyperCard Pathways writing model.The research methodology was a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods and took place in three phases over three academic school years. The HyperCard Pathways model of writing was developed in modules for the topics of the Year 11 Physics Extended Subject Framework of the Senior Secondary Assessment Board of South Australia. Students used the modules for the completion of required pieces of writing in science as part of the requirements for the South Australian Certificate of Education. Results indicated that the Scientific Literacy Development Plan was an effective tool for the enhancement of scientific literacy of Year 11 physics students and there was potential for the use of the plan in other science subjects. A number of teachers incorporated the techniques of the Scientific Literacy Development Plan into their regular course schedules.In conjunction with the classroom research, a method to assess explanation genre essays was developed called the Scientific Explanation Genre Assessment Scheme. This was trialled independently of the trials of the Scientific Literacy Development Plan and was found to be used reliably by teachers of Year 11 physics. The effectiveness of the computer-assisted Scientific Literacy Development Plan was demonstrated by evidence of improvement in scientific ++ / writing beyond that of normal practice. The products of this research: lesson plans, computer discs, and supporting materials were developed to be of assistance to other teachers. The materials can be adapted to other modules in the science curricula, and, following this project some teachers have chosen to do this.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of gender, CGPA and amount of weekly Internet use on the acceptance of CMS (Course Management System). Specifically, the purpose is to investigate METU-ONLINE in a course given in PSPA (Political Science and Public Administration) department at METU. One questionnaire has been used in the study. The questionnaires have been distributed to 63 PSPA students who were enrolled to POLITICAL HISTORY (ADM3106) course during spring semester of 2007-2008 year. The data gathered from the students with questionnaires has been analyzed in SPSS 16.0 program with ANOVA method using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results showed that students&rsquo / Cumulative GPA and amount of weekly Internet use have an effect on the perceived usefulness of METU-ONLINE.