A Blended Learning Approach for an Introductory Computer Science Course

Education Sciences

Alexander Förster¹  Daniel Helms²  Asanga Udugama²  Lars Gerken²  Anna Förster²  Jens Dede²  Louis Kniefs²  Julia Müller²  Jan Kulmann³  Franziska Richter³ 

[1] Roboter und Technik, 28213 Bremen, Germany;Sustainable Communication Networks, University of Bremen, 28359 Bremen, Germany;Zentrum für Multimedia in der Lehre, University of Bremen, 28359 Bremen, Germany;

关键词: blended learning;    inverted classroom;    programming;    Arduino;    teaching;    electrical engineering;   

DOI  :  10.3390/educsci11080372

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

In this paper, we present our experience with redesigning an introductory computer science course for (electrical) engineers with blended learning concepts. It is a large mandatory course with eight credit points over the course of two semesters, where first year electrical engineers learn how to program with Arduino, C and Python. Additionally, they need to cover basic computer science concepts such as binary numbers, Boolean algebra, encodings, finite state machines and object-oriented programming. We designed the course to cover the fields that are most relevant to our students’ future careers. With the new format, students declare they are much more engaged with the course, they drop the course less often and they actually achieve better exam results. We completely re-structured the course, introduced inverted classroom elements and hackathons and we continuously optimized and adapted the course. The main focus is on hands-on-experience and teamwork, which we mostly achieve by the use of hackathons. In this paper, we described the contents and teaching concepts of the course and we discussed the achieved results.

【 授权许可】

Unknown