Can algotutor change attitudes toward algorithms
Jungsoon Park Yoo, Sung Yoo, Suk J. Seo, Chrisila C. Pettey · 2011
The ability to design an algorithm is one of the most important learning outcomes of a computer science program. Unfortunately, not only is learning how to design algorithms a challenging task, but many students believe that algorithm design is not an important part of problem solving. To address this challenge and hopefully change student attitudes, we developed AlgoTutor, a web-based algorithm development tutoring system. AlgoTutor's primary components are the algorithm composer and the algorithm tracer. A third component, ProgramPad, was added to show the connection between algorithms and code. This paper presents the results of experiments that assessed AlgoTutor's effectiveness in changing student attitudes about algorithm development. The results show that students who used AlgoTutor in CS-I were more likely to realize the importance of algorithm design in problem solving and to have confidence in their own algorithm development abilities.