Asee peer logo

Board 329: Investigating the Impact of Context Choice on Learning Experience via Immersive Simulations in an Object-Oriented Programming Course

Download Paper |

Conference

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Baltimore , Maryland

Publication Date

June 25, 2023

Start Date

June 25, 2023

End Date

June 28, 2023

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Tagged Topic

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Page Count

17

DOI

10.18260/1-2--42926

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/42926

Download Count

196

Paper Authors

biography

Sabahattin Gokhan Ozden Pennsylvania State University, Abington Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-5005-0298

visit author page

Dr. Sabahattin Gokhan Ozden is an assistant professor of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State Abington. He has a Ph.D. and MISE from Auburn University in Industrial and Systems Engineering and a B.Sc. in Software Engineering and double major in Industrial Systems Engineering from Izmir University of Economics. His research interests are warehousing, optimization, engineering education, and information systems. Dr. Ozden has published in various journals/conferences including Computers and Operations Research and Naval Research Logistics. His website address is https://www.gokhanozden.com.

visit author page

biography

Ashkan Negahban Pennsylvania State University, Great Valley

visit author page

Dr. Ashkan Negahban is an Associate Professor of Engineering Management at The Pennsylvania State University, School of Graduate Professional Studies. He received his Ph.D. and master’s degrees from Auburn University (USA) and his BS from University of Tehran (all in Industrial and Systems Engineering). His research involves stochastic simulation methods, primarily agent-based and discrete-event simulation. He also conducts research related to novel simulation-based learning environments in STEM education. His email and web addresses are anegahban@psu.edu and https://ashkannegahban.com.

visit author page

biography

Omar Ashour Pennsylvania State University, Behrend Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-3775-6445

visit author page

Dr. Omar Ashour is an Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering at Pennsylvania State University, The Behrend College. Dr. Ashour received a B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering/Manufacturing Engineering and an M.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) in 2005 and 2007, respectively. He received his M.Eng. degree in Industrial Engineering/Human Factors and Ergonomics and a Ph.D. degree in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from The Pennsylvania State University (PSU) in 2010 and 2012, respectively. Dr. Ashour was the inaugural recipient of William and Wendy Korb Early Career Professorship in Industrial Engineering in 2016. Dr. Ashour’s research areas include data-driven decision-making, modeling and simulation, data analytics, immersive technologies, and process improvement. He contributed to research directed to improve design and engineering education.

visit author page

biography

Daniel Knight University of Colorado, Boulder

visit author page

Daniel W. Knight is the Program Assessment and Research Associate at Design Center (DC) Colorado in CU’s Department of Mechanical Engineering at the College of Engineering and Applied Science. He holds a B.A. in psychology from Louisiana State Universit

visit author page

Download Paper |

Abstract

Researchers have looked into ways to make computer science assignments more engaging, practical, and beneficial to students to improve learning outcomes by increasing student appeal. Offering a pool of assignments and allowing students to choose their preferred assignments is considered as a potential method for improving learning outcomes. In this paper, we investigate the effect of context choice for assignments in an object-oriented programming course that covers various topics such as object-oriented programming concepts, database design and implementation, graphical user interface design, and web application development. Students complete three immersive simulation-based learning (ISBL) modules as course assignments. ISBL modules involve technology-enhanced problem-based learning where the problem context is represented via a three-dimensional (3D), animated discrete-event simulation model that resembles a real-world system or context, in this case, we have three simulated systems/contexts around which ISBL assignments are defined: an airport, a manufacturing system, and a hospital emergency department. The research experiments involve four groups: (1) students with no choice who use the same assigned simulated system for all three ISBL assignments; (2) students with no choice who are given a different simulated system for each ISBL assignment; (3) students who can choose their preferred simulated system at the beginning but cannot change their choice for future assignments; and, (4) students who can choose at the beginning and switch between the three simulated systems for subsequent assignments. Data are collected over multiple semesters and statistical analyses are conducted to compare the four groups in terms of motivation, experiential learning, and self-assessment of learning. We also conduct qualitative assessments in the form of interviews to support and explain our statistical results.

Ozden, S. G., & Negahban, A., & Ashour, O., & Knight, D. (2023, June), Board 329: Investigating the Impact of Context Choice on Learning Experience via Immersive Simulations in an Object-Oriented Programming Course Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--42926

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2023 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015