A Holistic Approach to Improve Learning and Motivation in Introductory Programming with Automated Grading, Web-based Team Support, and Game Development

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to improve student success in an introductory programming course which is a pivotal course within all computer science/information technology programs. Increasing the success rates in this course, particularly for students from groups historically underrepresented in STEM, will remove obstacles for retaining students in an information technology career pathway. Various research-based approaches for improving the course often encounter local challenges that limit their adoption or implementation. This project will potentially demonstrate that technology and automated tools can effectively manage or mitigate these challenges. The approach to be piloted in this project integrates several high-impact practices holistically, offering students multiple pathways and opportunities to learn. This multifaceted approach could have the potential to synergically enhance overall student learning outcomes. The specific aim of the project is to enhance the learning, skills, and training of students from groups historically underrepresented in STEM in introductory programming courses. The project will accomplish this aim by (1) utilizing a multifaceted approach that integrates several high-impact research-supported pedagogies facilitated by automated tools, accommodating diverse learning styles, (2) hiring and mentoring a diverse group of peer tutors, with a specific focus on students from groups underrepresented in this cadre, and producing a mini-video library to facilitate learning and practice in a graphical programming environment, which will offer an additional learning pathway and sustain the peer modeling effort through videos, (3) creating a project-based learning experience through a semester-long game development project that incorporate culturally responsive themes, (4) producing tangible curriculum materials designed to be easily adopted or adapted by other faculty or institutions. As a result, the research outcomes and developed tools potentially will be applicable and impactful for a wide range of institutions, including Hispanic serving institutions, minority serving institutions, and those accommodating students balancing education with work and family commitments. With the anticipated impact, the project team will develop a public-facing website to host developed artifacts and curriculum materials, and they will outreach to CS/IT education community by hosting dissemination workshops and disseminating findings through peer-reviewed journals and presentations at regional and national conferences. This project is funded by the HSI Program, which aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.