An Investigation into the Performance of First Year Programming Students in Relation to their Grade 12 Computer Subject Results Glenda Barlow-Jones Department of Applied Information Systems University of Johannesburg South Africa
[email protected] Duan van der Westhuizen Department of Mathematics, Science, Technology and Computer Education University of Johannesburg South Africa
[email protected] Carla Coetzee ICT First Year and Foundation Unit Tshwane University of Technology South Africa
[email protected] Abstract: The wide range of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) experience that first year students bring to an Information Technology (IT) qualification can present a challenge to lecturers. The perception exists that students with prior ICT experience have an advantage when enrolling for an IT qualification. The majority of South African university students enrolling for an IT qualification originate from a government-based education system where teachers are mainly computer illiterate and computer facilities are not available. This means that many students do not have exposure to computers at school and do not have the opportunity to select the school subjects Information Technology (IT) or Computer Applications Technology (CAT) for the last three years of their schooling. In this paper, the relationship between students’ Grade 12 computer results and their academic performance in their programming module is investigated. The results show a moderate positive correlation between students’ performance in CAT and their programming module.
Introduction Previous computer programming experience at school level has been discussed in the literature as a positive influence in novice programmers’ success (Kumwenda et al, 2006; Rountree et al, 2004.; Wiedenbeck, 2005; Pedroni, Oriol & Meyer, 2009; Holden & Weeden, 2003; Sheard et al, 2008; Hagan & Markham, 2000; Blewett & Achmad, 2005). Students studying a computer programming course enter the qualification with varying degrees of experience ranging from none whatsoever to being competent programmers (Holden & Weeden, 2003). The students who have some degree of programming experience could have received this experience in a number of ways: selected as a high school subject, they could be selftaught; they may have work experience, or may even possess a prior programming qualification (Tafliovich, Campbell & Petersen, 2013). Students who come from the wealthier formerly white schools in South Africa may have done Information Technology (IT) as a Grade 12 subject, whereas other students typically from formerly black schools in poorer areas, generally have no programming experience and more than often, no computing experience at all (Kumwenda, Rauchas & Sanders, 2006; Barlow-Jones & van der Westhuizen, 2011). Students therefore come into higher education at different levels of programming experience, which presents a challenge to lecturers and students alike, as not only do the students need to master computer programming, but they also have to manage the other subjects offered in the qualification.
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EdMedia 2014 - Tampere, Finland, June 23-26, 2014 Low numbers of South African learners taking IT In the context of this study, the lack of prior experience in programming is exacerbated by the dearth of school going learners who opt to select Information Technology as a subject in Grade 10 through to Grade 12 (Koorsse et al, 2010). Numbers have dropped from 4 884 learners taking the subject in 2010 to 4 428 learners in 2012. Table 1 below indicates the decline in the number of learners selecting Information Technology as a Grade 12 subject in the last 3 years. 2010 Total Students
No of IT Students
% IT Students
2011 Total Students
No of IT Students
% IT Students
641 533
4 884
0.76%
620 266
4 313
0.69%
2012 Total Student s 647 074
No of IT Students
% IT Students
4 428
0.68%
Table 1: Decline in the number of Grade 12 Information Technology learners (Department of Basic Education, 2012) The programming component of the subject IT has the largest weighting in the curriculum (60%) (Department of Basic Education, 2011ᵃ). The subject is challenging as high-level problem-solving skills are required in order to write computer programs and specialised resources are needed to teach the subject effectively. According to the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) for IT (Department of Basic Education, 2011ᵃ:10), schools need to have up-to-date computers, relevant software, anti-virus programs, a data projector and internet access, in order for learners to be well equipped for success in the subject. The CAPS identifies the provision of infrastructure, equipment and finances for the subject IT as each individual schools responsibility. Havenga and Mentz (2009) from the North West University (NWU) in South Africa, express several concerns about the Grade 12 subject IT. Their main concern is that the exit level expectations of the subject (National Qualifications Forum Level 4) are too high when compared to first and even second year expectations at university level (National Qualifications Forum level 5 and 6) making it extremely difficult for school learners to succeed. In their investigation into this matter, they held meetings with IT teachers’ in in February 2008 and February 2009. In addition, informal meetings with teachers during the practical teaching session of student teachers at the North-West University were also held. During these meetings, the teachers raised the following problems that they were experiencing:
Teachers themselves experienced difficulty in mastering the subject; Schools were finding it difficult to find well-trained teachers in IT; There was not enough time to cover both theoretical and practical outcomes in the curriculum; and Learners found the subject difficult compared to their other subjects.
IT in rural schools According to Mentz et al (2012), the number of black learners who enrol in Grade 10 for the subject IT is high. These learners tend to believe that computers are the pathway to a prosperous career. Unfortunately, a low pass rate has been achieved at rural schools over the past three years which is in contrast to a pass rate of between 90% to 100% at more affluent urban schools. The majority of urban schools offer IT as a subject, however, IT is rarely available in rural schools; for example – of the twenty schools in the North West Province offering IT in 2010, only two were black rural schools (Varughese, 2011). The challenges that the two rural schools experienced in offering IT as a subject were as follows:
No Internet access in the computer labs; Learners did not have computers at home to practise; Insufficient technical assistance for the maintenance of the computer labs;
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Lack of teaching support; Learners could not afford to buy the prescribed textbook; and Schools experienced frequent electrical outages, which impacted on the offering of the subject.
Due to these challenges, students lacked the learning-by-doing aspect of studying programming (Hassinen & Mäyrä, 2006:119). It is thus not surprising that the Grade 12 results of these schools differ substantially from urban schools in the province. These challenges also do not promote the increase in numbers of IT learners at school level, in fact the opposite is almost inevitable. Learners tend to drop IT at the first opportunity that presents itself, opting to change to an ‘easier’ subject such as Computer Applications Technology (CAT) (Gomes & Mendes, 2008). CAT is a relatively new subject being taught in South African schools. Its purpose is described as “the effective use of information and communication technologies in an end-user computer applications environment in different sectors of society” (Department of Basic Education, 2011ᵇ). The practical component of this subject, which includes word processing, spread sheets, data bases and presentations, has the largest weighting in the curriculum (60%) which makes it a relatively easy subject to pass. The subject IT is more akin to programming than CAT, however, neither IT nor CAT is an entry requirement for an IT qualification at either the University of Johannesburg (UJ) or Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) in South Africa where the study was conducted.
The Study In order to determine whether a student’s Grade 12 CAT or IT marks are a predictor of academic performance in computer programming, students’ CAT and/or IT marks were compared to their marks in the subject Development Software 1 (programming). The study was conducted on a group of 102 first year students studying the National Diploma: Business Information Technology at the University of Johannesburg in 2012 and 456 students studying the National Diploma: Information Technology at the Tshwane University of Technology in 2013. As shown in Table 2, of the 102 first year students who participated in the study at the University of Johannesburg; only 3 students selected Computer Studies 1, 4 Information Technology and 29 CAT as a Grade 12 subject. University of Johannesburg Grade 12 Computer Subject No. of Students Computer Applications Technology (CAT) 29 Information Technology (IT) 4 Computer Studies 3 Total 36 Table 2: Number of first year programming students who selected computer subjects in Grade 12 at the University of Johannesburg. Table 2 indicates that of the 102 students, only 35.3% opted to select a computer subject in their matric year. As shown in Table 3, of the 456 first year students who participated in the study at the Tshwane University of Technology; only 9 students selected Information Technology and 37 CAT as a Grade 12 subject.
Grade 12 Computer Subject
Tshwane University of Technology No. of Students
1 Computer Applications Technology (previously Computer Studies Standard Grade - Literacy) and Information Technology (previously Computer Studies Higher Grade - Programming)
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37 9 46
Table 3: Number of first year programming students who selected computer subjects in Grade 12 at the Tshwane University of Technology. Table 3 indicates that of the 456 students, only 10.9% opted to select a computer subject in their matric year. Due to the sample size for Computer Studies and Information Technology being too small, only the CAT results will be reported on.
Findings University of Johannesburg A Spearman’s Rho test was conducted to investigate whether there was a relationship between the 29 CAT students Grade 12 marks and their final marks for their programming module. The results show support that there is a moderate correlation between a student’s Grade 12 CAT marks and their final mark for Development Software 1, r = .430, n = 29, p = .020. Correlations CAT Spearman's rho
computer_matric_mark
devsoft_final_mark_v2 Development software final mark (term mark included)
DSW01-1
Correlation Coefficient Sig. (2-tailed) N Correlation Coefficient Sig. (2-tailed)
1.000
.430
29 .430
.020 29 1.000
N
29
.020 29
Table 4: Grade 12 CAT marks and students performance in Development Software 1 at the University of Johannesburg. Tshwane University of Technology A Spearman’s Rho test was conducted to investigate whether there was a relationship between the 37 CAT students Grade 12 marks and their results for their programming module. Table 5 shows support that there is a moderate correlation between a student’s Grade 12 CAT marks and their mark for Development Software 1 (Module A), r = .385, n = 37 p = .019. Correlations CAT Spearman's rho
CAT
DSO17AT
Correlation Coefficient Sig. (2-tailed) N Correlation Coefficient Sig. (2-tailed) N
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
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DSO17AT 1.000
.385*
. 37 .385*
.019 37 1.000
.019 37
. 37
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Table 5: Grade 12 CAT marks and students performance in Development Software 1 (Module A) at the Tshwane University of Technology.
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Conclusion The majority of South African university students studying an IT diploma or degree originate from a government-based education system, where IT teachers and computer facilities are not always available. This means that many students do not have exposure to computers at school or do not have the opportunity to select IT or CAT as a subject. Of the students who selected CAT as a Grade 12 subject, it was found that overall there is a moderate positive correlation between their performance in CAT and their programming module. It appears that in South Africa, students do not intentionally undertake to do an IT diploma or degree with little or no prior programming or computer experience, their under preparedness seems to be as a result of a lack of opportunity being made available in high school.
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