Proceedings of the 9th WSEAS International Conference on APPLIED COMPUTER SCIENCE
Evaluating Information Sources for Computer Programming Learning and Problem Solving CARLOS J. COSTA MANUELA APARICIO ADETTI /ISCTE ADETTI/ ISCTE Av. das Forcas Armadas, Av. das Forcas Armadas, Edificio ISCTE Edificio ISCTE PORTUGAL PORTUGAL
[email protected] http://dcti.iscte.pt/cj
[email protected]
ROBERT PIERCE IBM Corporation Alfred, Maine USA
[email protected]
Abstract: - n this paper we analyze the usage model and preferences of students who may choose from several types of information resources that are designed to help teach programming skills. Each type of resource is available for improving knowledge of software programming and programming languages or for solving specific problems by using those languages. We provide data that illustrates students’ use of and preference for each type of information resource. Our findings can help teachers and writers of technical communication plan for and understand the value of different information types for computer programming. Key-Words: - Documentation, Computer Languages, Information Science, Application development, Empirical Research, Computer Science Education more than basic programming concepts that are common to several languages. [7] While some researchers advocate the adoption of various programming languages (such as Java, Prolog or C++) [6], others identify limitations of specific widely used languages (such as Pascal) [3]. Teaching the history of programming languages is also presented as part of teaching programming languages. [4] Practitioners and researchers also analyze the creation of new learning and development environments, and the employment of these new platforms goes beyond traditional on line courses. [8][13].
1 Introduction While information is pervasive or “all around us,” it is important to distinguish between different information types and to understand which sources of information are the most useful and popular resources. In this paper we analyze the preferred information resources used by students in a specific context. By the term “information resource” we mean technical content that must be expansible, understandable, substitutable, transportable, distributable, and sharable [12]. Information resources can be an important part of a person seeking knowledge, experience, and gaining insight for behavioral adaptation. From a biological point perspective, humans seeking information is regarded as an indispensable skill for surviving in the environment [1]. In this paper, our main concern is identifying what information resources students prefer and what information resources they generally use. Our analysis is based on two different contexts: • Students needing to improve knowledge about computer programming. • Students needing to solve a specific problem using a certain programming language. In the following sections, some of the problems of programming languages are analyzed. Then, we identify the main sources of information studied by researchers, the empirical work that has been done, and some of the main results of it.
3. Source of Information Choo [14] and Kuhlthau [15] classify information sources into internal personal, internal impersonal, external personal, and external impersonal. Seekers evaluate personal and impersonal sources with different sets of criteria [16]. With the development of e-learning, while students still have the option of access to traditional classes in class rooms or using e-learning training. Alternative learning resources include: colleagues, online documentation, and printed manuals (or books). Other sources include forums, product help, or other forms of online user assistance. All of these sources of information may be classified according to their purpose. Several needs for seeking information, including learning, are identified by many researchers. [10]. In this paper, we focus on the measurements of use of and preference for information types for: (a) Learning or improving knowledge, (b) Solving specific
2. Learning programming languages Teaching a programming language is a challenging issue with a long history [9]. Typically, the discussion is focused on the programming languages
ISSN: 1790-5109
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ISBN: 978-960-474-127-4
Proceedings of the 9th WSEAS International Conference on APPLIED COMPUTER SCIENCE
have a computer science background. For example, if a student who has never done programming before takes an engineering course that includes learning to program in C++, it does mean she has a background in computer science just because she took that one course.
problems. These dimensions may be combined in a matrix as presented in the following table. Table 1. Usage, preferences and need Use
Preference
Learning Solve specific Problem
5. Results In this section, the following two terms represent the two most common forms of technical content:
4. Methodology and research Hypothesis
•
The methodology used in this study consisted in first doing a bibliographical search to identify approaches of information resources and users or types of researching to a group of authors. To conduct the study we used a quantitative methodology, since the problem is related to understanding the use of several types of information resources in education. We chose a university setting to conduct a collection of input by distributing a questionnaire. The survey was limited to information systems and computer science students. The questionnaire was designed to collect data and identify where students obtain information to solve their needs, and whether they preferred those resources listed on the survey or there were other ones they used. All of the surveys were personally administered, in order to clarify any doubts and to ensure an almost 100% response. The questionnaire was composed of closed questions within a set of alternative responses. For each question there were eight types of information resources and for each question the student could answer according to a Likert scale (1 corresponds to "disagree completely" and 5 to "agree completely"). The sample was composed of 52 individuals and is classified in the Table 2.
•
These terms are used in each of the tables in this section to represent these two common types of information. In general students gave more importance to online help, colleagues, and product help than to other types of information resources In Tables 3 and 4, student preferences and uses are analyzed and compared. In order to identify which one has a higher score, the mean (M) is used and the standard deviation (SD) is used to identify the differences between opinions. For example, if the mean is larger, then the specific information resource is either more preferred than used or more used than preferred. If the standard deviation is closer to 0, preference and use are similar. In Table 3, the sources of information for gaining knowledge of a programming language are analyzed. In Table 4, the same sources of information for supporting a specific computer programming problem are analyzed. Table 3. Improve Knowledge of Programming Knowledge (e.g. PHP, VBA, C, and JAVA)
Table 2. Questionnaires by Type of Students Students´ Level Number of Students Computer science Background Undergraduate 25 0 Students Post-Graduate 13 4 Students MSc. Students 14 14 Total 52 18
Preferenc es M
Uses SD
3.75 1.22 Online help 3.46 1.13 Product help 3.35 1.19 Book 3.23 1.32 Class Course 2.56 1.06 Online Course 3.15 1.15 Forum 3.71 0.93 Colleague 2.75 1.00 Other M - Sample Mean SD – Sample Standard Deviation
Based in a context where students have some knowledge of programming languages, we analyze the main information sources that are used and preferred by students either to improve knowledge or to solve specific problems. All the students had at least one course of computer programming although most of these students did not have a computer science background. This is common in university settings where many students take a programming course or a course with programming in it but most of these students do not
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Online help - Manuals or other forms of user assistance available on a Web site (such as a tutorial, a programmer's guide, reference information, white papers, and samples). Product help - Digital product documentation that is part of a help system or an external resource such as a documentation CD that is included as part of the product.
M 3.81 3.15 3.08 2.60 2.08 3.21 3.67 2.75
SD 1.18 1.13 1.30 1.26 1.03 1.76 0.99 1.04
Figure 1 is a chart illustration of the same data that is listed in Table 3. In this figure, On-line manual and Digital manual represent Online help and Product help, respectively. Comparing differences in the results in Table 3, Forums are more preferred in the situation of looking
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ISBN: 978-960-474-127-4
Proceedings of the 9th WSEAS International Conference on APPLIED COMPUTER SCIENCE
for an answer to a specific problem, but users frequently first go to a colleague to get information to solve a specific problem and then they go to online help.
4,5 4 3,5 3 2,5
Preferences
2
4,5 4
1,5 1
3,5
0,5
3
Uses
O th er
Co lle ag ue
Fo ru m
Co ur se e
Co ur se O nlin
On -li ne
Uses
1,5
Cl as s
2
ma nu Di al gi ta lm an ua l
Preferences
Bo ok
0
2,5
1 0,5
Figure 2- Preferences and Uses for a Specific Problem We used a level of significance of 0.025 (2.5%). Consequently, if values are lower than this level of significance the null hypothesis of equality of the mean may be rejected. For example, in Table 5, the second column for the Online help row is 0.09. This value compares Book and Online help resource types. For a level of significance of 2,5%, we cannot reject the null hypothesis that states that both variables (Book and Online help) have the same mean. We cannot reject the null hypothesis because 0.09 is bigger than 0.025. When the opposite happens, we may reject the null hypothesis that states that both means are equal. Consequently, we may state that the two variables have different means. Table 5 shows that the preference for on line courses is different than all the other sources of information. Table 5 Improve Knowledge of Programming languages e (preferences)
O th er
Bo C ok la ss Co ur O se nlin e C ou rs e Fo ru m Co lle ag ue
Di gi ta l
O nlin e
m an ua l m an ua l
0
Figure 1- Preferences and Uses in Improving Knowledge Table 4 shows the same tests as the previous test but for sources of information for solving a specific computer programming problem. When referring to other resources they point out search engines (such as Google). According to the results, a search engine on the Internet is considered and used as an information resource by students Table 4. Preferences and Uses for a Specific Problem Preferences M
SD
Uses M
SD
Online help
3.88
1.19
3.83
1.20
Product help
3.38
1.16
2.98
1.20
Book
2.98
1.26
3.04
1.34
Class Course
2.67
1.30
2.38
1.21
Online Course
2.31
1.14
2.06
1.08
Forum
3.10
1.33
3.12
1.37
Online help
Colleague
3.87
0.96
3.96
0.96
Product help
2.85
1.03
2.87
1.13
Book
Other
Digital Book Class Online Forum Collegue Course Course manua l
M - Sample Mean SD – Sample Standard Deviation
Figure 2 is a chart illustration of the same data that is listed in Table 4. In this figure, On-line manual and Digital manual represent Online help and Product help, respectively. Tables 5 through 9 summarize hypothesis tests of equality of means to help identify whether the preferences and usages are different. These tables present the significance level corresponding to the student tests and comparing the means of the variables presented. In these tables, we analyzed the differences of the means and show that these differences are significant.
ISSN: 1790-5109
0.09
0.04
0*
0.01*
0.86
0.62
0.35
0*
0.18
0.23
0.64
0*
0.41
0.09
Class Course
0.01* 0.75
0.04
Online Course
0.01*
Forum
0.22
0* 0.01*
* p
