Conducted by MSEUF
, Started on 2013 -
Completed on 2014
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Computer programming is one of the major skills IT students should have. That is why teaching the basic of programming is very vital for IT educators in order to guide students towards effective and right strategies for the more complex programming process. Lister (2004) and Petre et al. (2003) stated that teaching how to program using the Java programming language has proved to be problematic. It has also been found by Adair and Jeager (n.d.) that unless instructors take special care to introduce the teaching material in a way that limits the complexity of the Java programming language, details can easily overwhelm introductory students. These led to the use of different approaches in teaching in order to motivate students to learn the basics of programming. In general, one emerging approach in teaching is by means of games. Utilizing games, not necessarily video games, in teaching is one way to shift to a more appropriate learning format to the current generation of students. Today, where most students are preoccupied in playing computer games, educational games can be useful and helpful to boost the interest of most students in learning. Previously, Bermudez (2012) developed J-Master, an interactive game-based tool which can be used in teaching and learning basic java programming. Although it was concluded that the system found to be acceptable as learning and teaching tool, the proponent raised some recommendations to make the system better. Technically, it was recommended to have a thorough examination of the system’s feature to fix small errors. Also, validating the game content and subjecting the system to a larger scope of evaluation would give a great contribution for the development of the new version of J-Master.
The primary goal of this study is to develop an improved interactive game-based tool for teaching and learning basic java programming which can be used in HEIs in CALABARZON. Specifically, it aims to: (1) gather system requirements by means of reviewing the features of J-Master version 1 and conduct interviews to further study on the strategies and techniques used in teaching basic java programming, (2) design the new features based on the gathered system requirements, (3) develop the new version of the game-based tool; and (4) evaluate the developed system in terms of acceptability as a teaching and learning tool.
This research is Research and Development (R & D) in nature. This covered selected institutions in CALABARZON offering IT courses where java is the programming language being used in any of the programming subjects. Within these institutions, the user requirements gathering and the evaluation processes were conducted. There are two sets of respondents in the study, faculty and student respondents. Number of faculty respondents were based on how many faculty members were teaching the basic java programming during the interview and the evaluation. On the other hand, student respondents composed of 20% of the total population taking the basic java programming during the period of conducting the study. A total of 23 faculty respondents and 214 faculty respondents from 10 selected HEIs in the region comprised the respondents.
In initiating the study, the version 1 of J-Master was subjected to system review in order to check and determine problems on its current features. Also knowing the different teaching strategies in teaching java programming used by teachers is vital inputs in the study. These served as the inputs for identifying the additional features and enhancement of the first version. On the development of version 2, initial phases of Rapid Application Development (RAD) was utilized. The first phase is the Requirement Planning where the needs for the development of the system were identified. After that, the iterative process of User Design and Construction phases were undertaken where the actual design and development took place. Another vital activity conducted was the game content validation. Here, the crafted game details and machine problems to be stored in the game were examined and validated by the faculty respondents. Lastly, the developed system was subjected to evaluation participated by faculty and student respondents.
Based on the interview, the concept of J-Master as a game-based tool for teaching basic java programming suited the needs of the HEIs in the region. Although institutions do not have the same basic programming subject structure, it was found out that all school-respondents used java as implementing language either on introductory or in advanced programming subjects. In terms of teaching style, all faculty members performed the usual way of teaching the basic java programming. Traditional lecturing is always the first step then practical exercises or activities will be given to the students as application of the skills learned. In terms of references, faculty members used java books with example machine problems, online resources, and/or their own created laboratory manuals.
More organized menu, simple graphics and fixed bugs were some of the improvements that can be seen on the version 2. Additionally, features such as generating scores report, generating of student’s certificate and viewing of student’s code were added in the game as enhancement on the teacher console. Revisions were crafted from the system review and feedback from the faculty respondents during the data gathering
Aside from the additional features, the version 2 aimed to have an ideal game content. To attain this, game content validation was conducted to seek feedback from the faculty respondents. Based from the validation results, the contents satisfied the criteria in terms of Appropriateness to the game, Technical Quality and Educational Quality. However, there were comments by the respondents in which were used on enhancing the game content.
Lastly, the new version was subjected to system evaluation participated by both faculty and student respondents. Based from the ratings, the system obtained the characteristics of being a game-based tool in terms of its functionality, organization design, instructional design and delivery and game-based learning characteristics.
After the conduct of the study, it was recommended to deploy the system to the different HEIs in Region IVA CALABARZON, especially those who participated in the requirements gathering and evaluation processes. Also, it is recommended to have a further study on the deployment plan of the system to determine on how the system be implemented considering its technical factors such as infrastructures, networks, and the likes. Lastly, since the system is a game-based tool that is intended to be an education tool that can be used as supplementary support, a further study on determining its effectiveness as educational tool is a good project to work on