1. Azad Ali Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA, USA Considerations for Selecting a Programming Language to Teach Prospective Teachers– A Case Example from two Programs Frederick Kohun Robert Morris University Pittsburg, PA, USA

2.  Learning to program is considered to be a difficult task  Has been prime reason for dropping out of technology programs  About 25-80% of students drop out of after first programming course  Computer educators addressed this issue  Service course has been replaced

3.  Discuss factors that make learning to program a difficult task  Explain other considerations for selecting a beginner programming language  Discuss factors for teaching programming to perspective teachers  Illustrate experience of two programs: ◦ M.Ed. program at IUP ◦ M.Sc. Of education at RMU

4.  Students consider it difficult and complex cognitive task for the following reasons: ◦ Rigid syntax ◦ Inability to see the result of computation ◦ Lack of motivation for programming ◦ Time/output ratio Learning to Program – Difficulty Points

5.  Suitable to solve programming difficulty for the following reasons ◦ Syntax ◦ Seeing result of program is immediate ◦ Uses visual output ◦ Development time is minimum compared to other languages  Preferred for entry level programming language over general purpose programming

6.  General Purpose versus Beginner programming language  Major only course versus service course  Entire Course versus Selected Topics  Standalone Versus Prerequisite

7.  Master of business education  Capstone course called BTST680 Technical update  Students taking this course mainly from M. Ed program  Course teaches four areas of technology  Uses Alice for teaching programming  General satisfaction of using Alice  Enrollment increased

8.  Offered at the School of Education  Students are required to take a Visual Basic.NET course (INFS6490)  Course is taught at the CIS program  Course is taken by students from CIS majors and other majors as well  Course is a pre-requisite to other courses  General dissatisfaction among M. Sc. students

9. Program NameIUPRMU General Purpose Vs. Beginner programming Beginner programming language (Alice) General purpose programming (Visual Basic) Major only course versus service course Major in Business Education only course Required by technology majors, business education majors as well as other majors Entire Course Versus Selected Topics One programming topic among four selected topics Entire course teaches programming Standalone Versus Prerequisites Stand alone. Does not serve as a prerequisite to other courses Though not formally a prerequisite, there is understanding that this a first course for other courses

10.  Question