iSIGCSE Teaching Challenge #1

Many undergraduate programmes include a mandatory introductory programming course in the first year. This course is challenging to teach for multiple reasons, one of which is the highly varied background and expectations that students have when they enter this course. For example, consider three fictitious students:

iSIGCSE

Challenge

Akhila

Student

She has genuinely attained some proficiency in programming prior to the course. She enjoys participating in online competitive programming events, and is keen to advance her understanding of programming.

Bilal

Student

He has had prior exposure to programming in school and has performed well on school exams (mainly by memorizing syntax). He incorrectly believes that he is proficient in programming, and his struggles in this course may cause him to lose interest.

Chanchan

Student

She has no prior programming experience. She plans to major in a non-computing discipline, and she sees no need to learn programming. She resents the fact that programming is a required course.

Teaching Challenge:

How do we address this varied group of students in the first lecture of an Introductory Programming course to make them fall in love with the course?

Why participate?

  • Exciting benefits
  • Contribute to the community

Exciting benefits:

The best submissions will earn cash prizes worth ₹ 10,000, and will be showcased on the ACM India website.

Contribute to the community:

The issue highlighted above is a challenge for every institution, as noted by Prof Abhiram Ranade. Your ideas will inspire others to find ways to address this issue for their own institutions.

Challenge

Participation

We invite you to participate in this challenge by submitting the following materials through this form (https://forms.gle/T2y8UgVpnE4MoutK7) by August 23, 2021 (Submission is closed now):

  • A short video (maximum length: 15 minutes) that clearly demonstrates how you address this Teaching Challenge in your first lecture of the introductory programming course. The lecture must be in English.
  •    a. You are free to use any format (whiteboard, slides, etc.). We recommend that you use screen-recording software (e.g., OBS Studio) to prepare your video. If you are comfortable with recording yourself, we suggest switching on your video camera. However, this is not necessary.
  •    b. If you are introducing some code, you can use any programming language (or even pseudocode).
  •    c. Please skip things that would be important in an actual first lecture (e.g., information about how the course is run, grading policies, etc.) and just focus on the challenge above.
  •      Your video will be evaluated on these criteria:
    • Clearly aims to engage many types of students (such as Akhila, Bilal, and Chanchan described above).
    • Presents ideas in a logical flow.
    • Uses meaningful examples when needed to explain ideas.
    • Uses language that is easy for most students to understand. Errors in grammar, pronunciation, etc. that do not hinder clarity are OK.
    • Does not have technical errors. (Exceptions could be made for over-simplifications introduced while trying to convey the essence of complex ideas, bearing in mind that this is the first lecture).
  • An explanation (maximum length: 250 words) of why you believe your approach helps address this challenge. If you have conducted any formal (or informal) studies to assess your belief, please include a description here.
  • A description (maximum length: 250 words) of how others can replicate your success. If your approach is suitable for a specific type of institution (e.g., an engineering institution outside top-tier institutions such as IITs), please indicate this clearly. (We welcome submissions from all types of institutions!).