Full report on challenges with learning to program and problem solve: an analysis of first year undergraduate Open University distance learning students' online discussions

Savage, Simon and Piwek, Paul (2019). Full report on challenges with learning to program and problem solve: an analysis of first year undergraduate Open University distance learning students' online discussions. The Open University, Milton Keynes.

Abstract

Students who study problem solving and programming (in a language such as Python) at University level encounter a range of challenges, from low-level issues with code that won't compile to misconceptions about the threshold concepts and skills. The current study complements existing findings on errors, misconceptions, difficulties and challenges obtained from students after-the-fact through instruments such as questionnaires and interviews. In our study, we analysed the posts from students of a large cohort (1500) of first-year University distance learning students to an online 'Python help forum' - recording issues and discussions as the students encountered specific challenges. Posts were coded in terms of topics, and subsequently thematically grouped into python-related, problem solving/generic programming related, and module specific. This report documents the full set of topics and the statistics for each of them. We also provide examples from the forum discussions which illustrate the topics that were identified.

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