An instructional approach to drive computer science courses through virtual learning environments

Nowadays, many universities have adopted Virtual Learning Environments for delivering and distributing educational resources. In the context of Computer Science (CS) courses, the use of these environments addresses several issues ranging from the application of instructional strategies to the selection of the most adequate learning platform. In this work, we propose an instructional approach to drive CS courses through virtual learning environments. The concept of driving a CS course adds a pedagogical value to the classical approach delivering educational resources. This pedagogical value is supported by applying instructional methods based on pedagogical patterns to design specific components of CS courses. The use of these pedagogical patterns helps to guide the deployment of Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) in CS courses enabling a connection between the course requirements and the VLE features. We have evaluated the proposed approach using an example of VLE called Poliformat. The evaluation focuses on the platform role as the road to drive Operating System courses during the 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 academic years. The evaluation results have contributed to a better understanding of how virtual learning environments can be used in CS courses and they confirm the benefits of applying instructional based approaches.