Abstract:
As part of an instructional strategy to improve undergraduate
software development students’ basic understanding of programming
constructs, students completed a selection of Code Studio tutorials during
the first three weeks of their programming course. Block-based environments,
such as the one used by the Code Studio tutorials, typically
make it easier for students to learn programming as they can focus on
concepts instead of syntax. Students are, however, less likely to regard
an instructional strategy as meaningful if it presents no motivational
value for them. In this paper, Keller’s ARCS Model is used to organize
the knowledge gained regarding student motivation and the motivational
strategies supported by the Code Studio tutorials. Results obtained from
analysis of numeric and narrative data collected through a paper-based
self-completion questionnaire confirm the high motivation value of the
Code Studio tutorials. The results provide insights regarding students’
perceptions of Code Studio tutorials as a motivational instructional strategy
in an undergraduate programming course. Since students perceive
the Code Studio tutorials to have some educational value, further investigations
should be conducted to consider more appropriate and effective
ways to integrate Code Studio tutorials with undergraduate programming
curricula.
