Can algotutor change attitudes toward algorithms

Authors:
Jungsoon P. Yoo;Sung K. Yoo;Suk Seo;Chrisila Pettey
Affiliations:
Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN, USA;Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN, USA;Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN, USA;Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN, USA
Venue:
Proceedings of the 42nd ACM technical symposium on Computer science education
Year:
2011

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Abstract

The ability to design an algorithm is one of the most important learning outcomes of a computer science program. Unfortunately, not only is learning how to design algorithms a challenging task, but many students believe that algorithm design is not an important part of problem solving. To address this challenge and hopefully change student attitudes, we developed AlgoTutor, a web-based algorithm development tutoring system. AlgoTutor's primary components are the algorithm composer and the algorithm tracer. A third component, ProgramPad, was added to show the connection between algorithms and code. This paper presents the results of experiments that assessed AlgoTutor's effectiveness in changing student attitudes about algorithm development. The results show that students who used AlgoTutor in CS-I were more likely to realize the importance of algorithm design in problem solving and to have confidence in their own algorithm development abilities.