TY - JOUR
T1 - Experiences from placing Stack Overflow at the core of an intermediate programming course
AU - López-Nores, Martín
AU - Blanco-Fernández, Yolanda
AU - Bravo-Torres, Jack F.
AU - Pazos-Arias, José J.
AU - Gil-Solla, Alberto
AU - Ramos-Cabrer, Manuel
PY - 2019/5/1
Y1 - 2019/5/1
N2 - Objectivist methodologies do not align well the learning requirements of modern-day computer science and software engineering, and major universities are moving from the old standards towards “learning by doing” approaches. We discuss the redesign of an intermediate Computer Programming course taught at the University of Vigo (Spain), seeking to promote question-and-answer websites for programmers as the main source of reference for the students, and turning the teacher into a permanent observer who delivers pertinent advice. The change of programming language, from Java to JavaScript, is also justified. A comparative experiment was conducted with 126 undergraduate students in Vigo (Spain) and Cuenca (Ecuador), revealing advantages in terms of understanding (22% increase in comprehension of new programming constructs), problem-solving capabilities (16% improvement in correct operation of the developed systems) and even greater clarity in communication and documentation (53% better), along with positive perceptions by the students (19% increase).
AB - Objectivist methodologies do not align well the learning requirements of modern-day computer science and software engineering, and major universities are moving from the old standards towards “learning by doing” approaches. We discuss the redesign of an intermediate Computer Programming course taught at the University of Vigo (Spain), seeking to promote question-and-answer websites for programmers as the main source of reference for the students, and turning the teacher into a permanent observer who delivers pertinent advice. The change of programming language, from Java to JavaScript, is also justified. A comparative experiment was conducted with 126 undergraduate students in Vigo (Spain) and Cuenca (Ecuador), revealing advantages in terms of understanding (22% increase in comprehension of new programming constructs), problem-solving capabilities (16% improvement in correct operation of the developed systems) and even greater clarity in communication and documentation (53% better), along with positive perceptions by the students (19% increase).
KW - Q&A fora for programmers
KW - constructivist theories
KW - experiential learning
KW - higher education
KW - workplace culture
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=85062687067&origin=inward
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=85062687067&origin=inward
UR - http://www.mendeley.com/research/experiences-placing-stack-overflow-core-intermediate-programming-course
U2 - 10.1002/cae.22109
DO - 10.1002/cae.22109
M3 - Article
SN - 1061-3773
VL - 27
SP - 698
EP - 707
JO - Computer Applications in Engineering Education
JF - Computer Applications in Engineering Education
IS - 3
ER -