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Exploring Student Experiences in Early Computing Courses during Emergency Remote Teaching

Authors:

Zhanchong Deng,

Sophia Krause-Levy,

Adrian Salguero,

William G. Griswold,

Christine AlvaradoAuthors Info & Claims

ITiCSE '21: Proceedings of the 26th ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 1

Pages 88 - 94

https://doi.org/10.1145/3430665.3456315

Published: 26 June 2021 Publication History

Abstract

Spring 2020 brought enormous change to student learning, as universities scrambled to put into place support structures to aid students' learning in a remote context. Computer science education was both well-positioned for this change and faced unique challenges, e.g. that students often need significant (in-person) support with programming. In this study we examine how aspects of students' remote learning experience in spring 2020 compared to the same aspects in previous in-person, pre-COVID offerings of 6 lower- to mid-division computer science courses at UC San Diego (UCSD), a large US research university. We were in a unique position to make this comparison because we had been collecting data on several aspects of students' course experiences throughout the 2019-2020 academic year. We found, surprisingly, that most elements of students' experiences that we examined were unchanged, or even improved, in spring 2020. Students in spring reported similar or lower stress levels and found their courses similarly or less challenging relative to previous quarters. However, some aspects did degrade. Students had less connection with their peers (particularly in introductory classes), more interference from family obligations, and higher drop/fail rates in some classes. Surprisingly, these results hold across all assessed demographics. Our results indicate that the actions UCSD and its CS instructors took to mitigate the stresses of remote learning in spring 2020 were largely successful and provide implications for improving education beyond the pandemic.

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Cited By

Shah AAgarwal VGriswold WPorter LSoosai Raj AMonga MLonati VBarendsen ESheard JPaterson J(2024)In-Person vs Blended Learning: An Examination of Grades, Attendance, Peer Support, Competitiveness, and BelongingProceedings of the 2024 on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3649217.3653604(422-428)Online publication date: 3-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3649217.3653604
Ahmad Shazli IChe Lah NHashim MMailok RSaad AHamid S(2023)A Comprehensive Study of Students’ Challenges and Perceptions of Emergency Remote Education During the Early COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Literature ReviewSage Open10.1177/2158244023121915213:4Online publication date: 26-Dec-2023
https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440231219152
Photopoulos PTsonos CStavrakas ITriantis D(2022)Remote and In-Person Learning: Utility Versus Social ExperienceSN Computer Science10.1007/s42979-022-01539-64:2Online publication date: 21-Dec-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s42979-022-01539-6
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Exploring Student Experiences in Early Computing Courses during Emergency Remote Teaching
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education

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Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

ITiCSE '21: Proceedings of the 26th ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 1

June 2021

611 pages

ISBN:9781450382144

DOI:10.1145/3430665

General Chairs:
Carsten Schulte
Paderborn University, Germany
,
Brett A. Becker
University College Dublin, Ireland
,
Program Chairs:
Monica Divitini
NTNU, Norway
,
Erik Barendsen
Radboud University & Open University, The Netherlands

Copyright © 2021 Owner/Author.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial International 4.0 License.

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SIGCSE: ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 26 June 2021

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National Science Foundation

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ITiCSE 2021

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SIGCSE

ITiCSE 2021: 26th ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education

June 26 - July 1, 2021

Virtual Event, Germany

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Overall Acceptance Rate 552 of 1,613 submissions, 34%

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Cited By

Shah AAgarwal VGriswold WPorter LSoosai Raj AMonga MLonati VBarendsen ESheard JPaterson J(2024)In-Person vs Blended Learning: An Examination of Grades, Attendance, Peer Support, Competitiveness, and BelongingProceedings of the 2024 on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3649217.3653604(422-428)Online publication date: 3-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3649217.3653604
Ahmad Shazli IChe Lah NHashim MMailok RSaad AHamid S(2023)A Comprehensive Study of Students’ Challenges and Perceptions of Emergency Remote Education During the Early COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Literature ReviewSage Open10.1177/2158244023121915213:4Online publication date: 26-Dec-2023
https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440231219152
Photopoulos PTsonos CStavrakas ITriantis D(2022)Remote and In-Person Learning: Utility Versus Social ExperienceSN Computer Science10.1007/s42979-022-01539-64:2Online publication date: 21-Dec-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s42979-022-01539-6
Photopoulos PTriantis D(2022)Think Twice: First for Tech, Then for EdSN Computer Science10.1007/s42979-022-01538-74:2Online publication date: 26-Dec-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s42979-022-01538-7

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