It's not them, it's us! why computer science fails to impress many first years

Rashina Hoda, Peter Andreae

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference PaperResearch

16 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

High attrition and failure in first year computer science and software engineering courses has often been linked to the personal traits and skills of students - dividing the world into those that "get it" and those "that don't". We present several concrete strategies based on the recently developed Learning Edge Momentum (LEM) theory, which when applied together, were found useful in reducing failure rates. Based on the our experiences, we challenge our current understanding of attrition and failure in first year courses and dare to claim that maybe it's not them, it's us that is the problem.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the Sixteenth Australasian Computing Education Conference (ACE 2014), Auckland, New Zealand, 20-23 January 2014
EditorsJacqueline Whalley, Daryl D'Souza
Place of PublicationNew York NY USA
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Pages159-162
Number of pages4
ISBN (Electronic)9781921770319
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014
Externally publishedYes
EventAustralasian Computing Education Conference 2014 - Auckland, New Zealand
Duration: 30 Sept 20143 Oct 2014
Conference number: 16th
https://dl.acm.org/doi/proceedings/10.5555/2667490 (Proceedings)

Publication series

NameConferences in Research and Practice in Information Technology Series
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Volume148
ISSN (Electronic)1445-1336

Conference

ConferenceAustralasian Computing Education Conference 2014
Abbreviated titleACE 2014
Country/TerritoryNew Zealand
CityAuckland
Period30/09/143/10/14
Internet address

Keywords

  • Attrition and failure rates
  • Computer science
  • First year course
  • LEM theory
  • Software engineering

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