An Investigation into the Performance of First Year Programming Students in Relation to their Grade 12 Computer Subject Results
Abstract: The wide range of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) experience that first year students bring to an Information Technology (IT) qualification can present a challenge to lecturers. The perception exists that students with prior ICT experience have an advantage when enrolling for an IT qualification. The majority of South African university students enrolling for an IT qualification originate from a government-based education system where teachers are mainly computer illiterate and computer facilities are not available. This means that many students do not have exposure to computers at school and do not have the opportunity to select the school subjects Information Technology (IT) or Computer Applications Technology (CAT) for the last three years of their schooling. In this paper, the relationship between students’ Grade 12 computer results and their academic performance in their programming module is investigated. The results show a moderate positive correlation between students’ performance in CAT and their programming module.
Presider: Anni Rytkönen, University of Helsinki Educational Technology Centre