PREOP as a tool to increase student retention in CS

  • Authors:

  • Briana Lowe Wellman;Monica Anderson;Susan V. Vrbsky

  • Affiliations:

  • University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL;University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL;University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL

  • Venue:
  • Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges
  • Year:
  • 2009

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Abstract

The demand for computer scientists is expected to continue to increase irrespective of the current state of the economy. Unfortunately, the supply is not expected to match the demand as the number of computer science majors has decreased substantially since the year 2000. As a result, universities and colleges are attempting to identify new ways to attract and retain prospective students into the field of computer science in order to increase the number of majors. In this paper we describe our approach to increase participation and retention through the use of PREOP (Providing Robotic Experiences through Object-Based Programming), an approach that combines the Alice interface and robots for a CS1 Laboratory. PREOP is an interactive 3D animation programming environment, that allows students to program real robots using a drag-and-drop, syntax-free interface. The goal is to foster student motivation and increase student understanding of the fundamental concepts within the first-year curriculum. Initial results indicate that the students in the PREOP Lab who are eligible for CS2 are more likely to rate their skills and knowledge above average than the students in the non-PREOP Labs, and more likely to be registered for the CS2 course than the students in the non-PREOP Labs.