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Co-regulated Learning in Computer Programming: Students Co-reflection About Learning Strategies Adopted During an Assignment

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Technology and Innovation in Learning, Teaching and Education (TECH-EDU 2018)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 993))

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Abstract

Higher education students exhibit difficulties in learning computer programming, particularly transitioning from initial programming to advanced programming, so it’s necessary to develop effective teaching strategies.

We developed the SimProgramming approach to help students overcome learning difficulties transitioning from entry-level to advanced computer programming, by developing appropriate learning strategies. The students perform a specific set of tasks in a learning environment that simulates business operations, developing a problem-based learning assignment. One of those tasks is filling biweekly individual self-reflection and co-reflection forms.

This approach was implemented at the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (Portugal), in a 4th semester course of two bachelor programmes: Informatics Engineering and ICT. The students provided 37 biweekly forms, on which we conducted thematic analysis to identify their strategies for co-regulation of learning during the assignment.

Students are adopting different strategies in each phase of the approach. Early phases are devoted to organization, planning, and transformation of information, and later phases focus on applying theoretical knowledge and hands-on programming.

We recommend including this type of pedagogical task (biwekly self-reflection and co-reflection forms) in educational practices, in view of their contribution to improving self- and co-regulation learning strategies.

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Acknowledgment

Pedrosa, D. wishes to thank the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal, for Ph.D. Grant SFRH/BD/87815/2012.

This work is financially supported by National Funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., under the project UID/CED/00194/2013.

We would like to thank all the students and teachers who collaborated on this research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Science and Technology, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD), Vila Real, Portugal

    Daniela Pedrosa & José Cravino

  2. Research Centre “Didactics and Technology in Education of Trainers”, Aveiro, Portugal

    José Cravino

  3. LE@D & CIAC, Universidade Aberta, Coimbra, Portugal

    Leonel Morgado

  4. INESC TEC, Porto, Portugal

    Leonel Morgado

  5. Faculdade de Psicologia e Ciências da Educação, Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Carlos Barreira

Authors
  1. Daniela Pedrosa
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  2. José Cravino
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  3. Leonel Morgado
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  4. Carlos Barreira
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniela Pedrosa .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Meni Tsitouridou

  2. Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    José A. Diniz

  3. University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece

    Tassos A. Mikropoulos

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Pedrosa, D., Cravino, J., Morgado, L., Barreira, C. (2019). Co-regulated Learning in Computer Programming: Students Co-reflection About Learning Strategies Adopted During an Assignment. In: Tsitouridou, M., A. Diniz, J., Mikropoulos, T. (eds) Technology and Innovation in Learning, Teaching and Education. TECH-EDU 2018. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 993. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20954-4_2

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