Publication Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

5-2012

Abstract

Differentiated instruction in the form of tiered take-home lab exercises was implemented for students of an undergraduate-level programming course. This paper attempts to uncover the perceptions and usage patterns of students toward these new lab exercises using a comprehensive survey. Findings reveal that these tiered exercises are generally very well received and preferred over their traditional "one size fits all" counter-parts. Although the study does not show that tiered exercises have improved proÞciency or scores, it does seem to indicate higher student engagement and motivation levels. Based on the survey results, a list of recommendations is put forth for the structure and format of tiered exercises that can be applied to future offerings of this programming course as well as to other similar courses.

Keywords

Computer science education, differentiated instruction (DI), differentiated learning, educational activities, higher education, student engagement and satisfaction, teaching/learning strategies

Discipline

Curriculum and Instruction | Other Education | Science and Mathematics Education

Publication

IEEE Transactions on Education

ISSN/ISBN

0018-9359

Identifier

10.1109/TE.2011.2162070

Publisher/Conference

IEEE Education Society

Copyright Owner and License

© 2012 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/ republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works.

Comments

This paper has been accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Education Vol.55, Issue 2 (May 2012).