Assessing the Teaching and Learning Process of an Introductory Programming Course With Bloom's Taxonomy and Assurance of Learning (AOL)

Introduction

Learning to program is considered as a challenging and difficult task for novice programmers (Malik, 2018a; Malik & Coldwell-Neilson, 2018c; Malik & Coldwell-Neilson, 2017b; Reardon & Tangney 2014; Shuhidan, 2012). Consequently, high attrition rates are reported in introductory programming courses (Guzdial & Soloway, 2002; Lahtinen et al., 2005; Sykes, 2007; Yadin, 2011; Watson & Li, 2014; Zingaro, 2015). Many studies have been performed in the past to determine the challenges and difficulties faced by novice programmers. Tavares et al. (2001) discussed that the two main factors for high failure rates in introductory programming courses are curriculum organization and teaching methods. Meisalo et al. (2002) identified that 30% students’ who registered in the programming course dropped out of the course because they found programming exercises too difficult and hard. Iqbal and Harsh (2013) pointed out that introductory programming courses did not pay equal attention to programming knowledge (syntax and semantics) and problem-solving strategies. De Raadt (2008) analyzed forty programming textbooks and determined that only six out of forty textbooks incorporated problem solving strategies throughout the book.

This study compared a current teaching and learning approach used in the introductory programming (IP) course with Bloom’s taxonomy and assurance of learning (AOL) process. The comparison with Bloom’s taxonomy helps us to determine whether the current teaching and learning approach provides all the necessary skills required by novice programmers in the IP course. The assurance of learning (AOL) process was conducted to assess students learning outcomes and achievements in the IP course.

This paper is organized into a number of sections starting with an introduction to the current teaching and learning approach (ADRI model), Bloom’s taxonomy and assurance of learning (AOL), followed by a review of relevant literature. The research questions and methodology used is then described, and results are reported and elaborated. The paper concludes with a summary of the outcomes and future work.