Applying Online Content-Based Knowledge Awareness and Team Learning to Develop Students’ Programming Skills, Reduce their Anxiety, and Regulate Cognitive Load in a Cloud Classroom

Abstract

As Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure has rapidly become commonplace in most countries worldwide, the development of ICT-related competence is now considered to be a key goal in Taiwan’s curriculum. Nowadays, society expects undergraduates to develop essential computer abilities before entering the workplace. In addition to possessing computing skills, students are also required to have problem-solving ability and teamwork competency. To equip students to meet these expectations, the researchers integrated two teaching approaches, using content-based knowledge awareness (CoKA) and team learning (TL) to enhance students’ programming skills in an online computing course, and to reduce students’ anxiety and regulate cognitive load in the cloud classroom involved in this study. In this research, the authors conducted a quasi-experiment to examine the influences of CoKA and TL. Therefore, the design for the experiment was a 2 (CoKA vs. non-CoKA) × 2 (TL vs. non-TL) factorial pretest/posttest design. There were 184 participants, who were neither information nor computer majors, from four classes, enrolled in a required course titled ‘Programming Design’. The first class (G1) simultaneously received the online CoKA and TL intervention, the second class (G2) received only the online CoKA intervention, and the third class (G3) received only the online TL intervention; these served as the experimental groups, while the last class (G4), which received a traditional teaching approach, served as the control group. According to the results, students who received online TL had significant increase in their computing skills, and significant decrease in their level of anxiety and cognitive load. However, the expected effects of CoKA on developing students’ skills in designing mobile applications, reducing anxiety level and regulating cognitive load were not found. The design of integrating CoKA and TL in an online course could be a reference for educators when conducting online, flipped, or blended courses, particularly for those focusing on developing skills in computer programming.