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Work In Progress: Impact of Collaborative Learning Strategies on Anxiety Reduction in Introductory Programming Courses

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Conference

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Portland, Oregon

Publication Date

June 23, 2024

Start Date

June 23, 2024

End Date

July 12, 2024

Conference Session

First-Year Programs Division WIPS 2: Students and Peer Mentors

Tagged Division

First-Year Programs Division (FYP)

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/48497

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Paper Authors

biography

Joseph Ekong Western New England University

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Dr. Joseph Ekong is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management at Western New England University. He received his Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Auburn University, and M.Sc. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. His research and teaching interests include advanced manufacturing systems, robotics and automation systems, data analytics, and engineering education.

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Arnab A. Purkayastha Western New England University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-2906-3123

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Arnab A Purkayastha is an Assistant Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at Western New England University,
Massachusetts. He received his PhD in the year 2021 from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. His research interests and activities
lie in the recent advances in High Performance Computing and Machine Learning fields, including system level integration both at the cloud and edge.

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Gladys Ekong

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Dr. Gladys Ekong is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical and Administrative Sciences, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Western New England University (WNE). Her research work focuses on behavioral and sociocultural aspects of chronic disease management and prevention. She has published in various peer-reviewed journals on Motivational Interviewing, provider-patient communication, medication use, and behavioral interventions. Her teaching interests include research methods & data analytics, pharmacy practice management and healthcare communications.

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Abstract

This work in progress study investigates the effectiveness of a teaching intervention focused on collaborative learning strategies, specifically, write-pair-share (WPS), and vertical non-permanent surfaces (VNPS), in reducing students’ anxiety with learning introductory programming courses. An introductory programming course is an important course for first-year engineering students. The ability to write programs to solve real-world problems is a vital skill for engineers. First-year students without prior programming experience may encounter challenges in introductory programming courses, which may lead to increased anxiety and academic hurdles. This study was implemented among students in a first-year programming course at a private university. Students enrolled in the introductory programming course were given modeling problems during the semester to assess their progress in developing programming solutions. In each modeling problem, students were required to submit a written solution to the problem, detailing their solution approach, and a coded solution to the problem using MATLAB as the programming language. The validated survey, “Attitudes Toward Mathematics Inventory (ATMI)” was revised to focus on programming rather than mathematics. Students completed the revised version of the ATMI survey at the beginning of the semester and at the end of the semester. Study data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and t-tests to determine significant improvement in students’ anxiety and confidence in their programming skills. Findings from this study suggest that effective teaching methods may improve students’ anxiety, confidence, and engagement in similar programming courses.

Ekong, J., & Purkayastha, A. A., & Ekong, G. (2024, June), Work In Progress: Impact of Collaborative Learning Strategies on Anxiety Reduction in Introductory Programming Courses Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/48497

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