Improving Motivation of Students in Introductory Programming Courses

Abstract

Research has shown that many students struggle in introductory programming classes often doing poorly or failing the course outright. However very little has been done to suggest ways for improving the situation. Given that there is little control of the variation in the level of preparation of the incoming student for this course one possible approach to improving the student performance would be to focus on increasing the motivation of the student. One method for doing this would be to provide evidence that they are learning a useful tool that will in the long run save them time and effort and potentially improve their grades. Another method is to capture their imagination and inspire the students to be self-motivated out of their own curiosity and desire to learn.