Abstract:

Learning a programming language has become a necessity for graduates in almost any field of study and programming courses are offered all around the world in higher-education institutions. They range from introductory to highly specialized levels and students belonging to different majors are increasingly interested in acquiring programming skills. In the field of social sciences, it is often the case that students show up in programming classes with pre-conceived ideas along the lines of “programming is for those who like mathematics”, “social scientists are not good at programming” and so on. On one hand, these students feel that they ”should” learn programming (for use with various tools supporting their academic research); on the other hand, they are reluctant to enroll in such courses, due to their perception that they would be too difficult to manage.
For the past 12 years, the author has been teaching an introductory programming course aimed at students who have never attempted such a course. (at the University of Tsukuba in Japan). Until 2020, this course was taught in the traditional face-to-face manner. The Covid-19 pandemic forced the move towards an online class, similarly to numerous (if not most) higher education courses around the world. In the new “emergency remote teaching” (ERT) style, there were many challenges that the teacher, together with the students, struggled to overcome. In Japan, most universities held online courses between 2020 and 2022, i.e. for 3 years. Starting with spring 2023, the students t the University of Tsukuba returned to their classrooms and courses were held face-to-face again.
Based on the experience of teaching the introductory programming course face-to-face, then online, then face-to-face again, this poster will highlight the perceptions of students with regard to the course and its different formats. It will show how the course has changed and how it was perceived by students during the ERT format. A large part of the observations and conclusions drawn by the author are based on empirical observations gathered during these classes. Furthermore, three sets of data gathered from questionnaires administered to students are used and analyzed. The first two sets were gathered half-way through the programming course and at the end of the course, respectively. The third set is based on the mandatory class evaluation and feedback which the students must submit at the end of each course, as per the regulations of the university.
The change in students’ perceptions regarding the difficulty, enjoyment etc. of the classes will be analyzed; at the same time, a comparison between face-to-face to and online classes will offer important lessons for the instructor. Overall, the poster will offer a glimpse into students’ experiences with an introductory programming course at an academic institution in Japan and it will provide lessons learned during the use of ERT in introductory programming classes.

Keywords:

Emergency remote teaching, introductory programming, online learning.