Learning to program - does it matter where you sit in the lecture theatre?
- Resource Type
- Conference
- Authors
- McGowan, A.; Hanna, P.; Greer, D.; Busch, J.; Anderson, N.
- Source
- 2017 40th International Convention on Information and Communication Technology, Electronics and Microelectronics (MIPRO) Information and Communication Technology, Electronics and Microelectronics (MIPRO), 2017 40th International Convention on. :624-629 May, 2017
- Subject
- Communication, Networking and Broadcast Technologies
Components, Circuits, Devices and Systems
Computing and Processing
Photonics and Electrooptics
Power, Energy and Industry Applications
Signal Processing and Analysis
Programming
Mobile communication
Java
Education
Software
Optimized production technology
Degradation
Computing
Attitudes
Assessment performance
Seating Lecture theatre
- Language
Seating position in university lectures is commonly linked with student grade performance. Sitting at the front of lecture theatre is generally reported to have a positive effect on final grade. This study investigates and analyses the seating positions, course engagement, prior programming experiences and academic abilities of students throughout a 12 week Java programming university programme and relates these themes to the students' final grade performances. Unlike other studies in this area it did not control the students' seating arrangements. This required the development of a mobile and web based software tracking system which enabled a unique unrestricted study of the effects of lecture theatre seating on assessment performance. It finds that the best assessment results were achieved by the students in the front row and that assessment score degraded the further students sat from the front. While the most engaged were found to regularly sit at the front the same was not true for the most academically able or those with the greatest prior programming experience.