Towards an Open Educational Resource Sensitive to Student’s Context to Support Introductory Programming Courses

Abstract

Previous studies mention that students have a hard time learning introductory programming courses. Several studies have already been conducted to understand the problems concerning programming learning. Some investigations managed to classify the problems, they are: some students are unable to obtain a concrete understanding computer programming concepts; some students are not able to apply programming concepts in the construction of programs; some students have no motivation to learn the subject; some students cannot understand the programs already implemented, and some have difficulties in factoring and refactoring programs. To support the learning of these courses, researchers in the field have established teaching support mechanisms, which can be used by teachers when teaching content or by students to train and get prepare for assessments. In particular, some studies are proposing open educational resources. However, even if there is a strong interest in establishing these open resources, the existing educational resources do not consider the difficulties that the students may have in these courses (i.e., resources that increase students’ motivation but do not support students who have difficulties learning programming concepts). Still, it is necessary to consider the previous knowledge that each student may have when starting a course. Some students may have some programming knowledge, while others may not. It is also necessary to consider that students have their preferences for learning materials when they are studying (i.e., some prefer video lessons, while others prefer slides). In this sense, this paper addresses the establishment and feasibility study of an open educational resource dedicated to teaching programming, which is specialized for students who have difficulties in learning and applying concepts, understanding programs, factoring and refactoring their programs and/or do not have the motivation to program. This open educational resource was planned considering some definitions related to the students’ particularities (i.e., previous knowledge, preferences for teaching materials and programming difficulties), with the function of identifying them and adapting to these particularities. We describe how we have developed the educational resource, how we plan and conduct preliminary evaluations and, in the end, we raise directions for next steps.