Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 4.2 Distribution of
students' knowledge of other
programming languages
Language
Java (%)
Pascal (%)
Basic (%)
21.43
28.57
50
Group A
22.22
27.78
45
Group B
Both groups consisted of 35 students. The students of group A used the pre-
sented programming tutoring system for learning the programming language 'C'.
The particular, programming tutoring system uses a fuzzy student model, which
helps the system to infer about the learner's knowledge level on each domain con-
cept of the learning material and advise the learner not to read a concept at all or
return her/him to a previous learnt concept to revise it. The students of group B
used a similar educational system from which the fuzzy student model was absent.
Both systems had the same knowledge domain, which is divided into 31 concepts,
but the system, which was used by the students of group B, delivers the concepts
of the learning material in sequence without taking into account how the learner's
performance on a domain concept may affect her/his knowledge of another con-
cept. The students, who used that system, had to read all the concepts one time at
least. Furthermore, according to the learner's degree of success on tests, the sys-
tem decided if s/he had to return to revise a concept or if s/he had to be transited to
the next section of the learning material. The learners of both groups used the cor-
responding systems without attending any complementary course on programming,
over a period of 6 months.
4.3 Results
4.3.1 Learners' General Satisfaction
Learners' satisfaction about the educational system and program is positive. The
average learners' overall rating of satisfaction is 4.38. The level of their satisfac-
tion about the quality of the content, the quality of instruction, the system's use-
fulness, friendliness and adaptivity is high. The results of the corresponding
questionnaire (Questionnaire A, Appendix B) are depicted in Fig. 4.1 . This infor-
mation is easy to collect, but does not tell enough about the learning success.
4.3.2 Learners' Performance
One of the main goals of the system is to adapt dynamically the teaching sequence
to the users' individual level of knowledge. In this sense the evaluation's aim is
to evaluate the individualization of the teaching rather than evaluating the success
of the teaching method alone. In other words, it is evaluated how the student was
taught and whether s/he learned successfully rather than just whether s/he learned
 
Search WWH ::




Custom Search