Introductory programming course: motivating students with prior knowledge
Luka Fürst · 2013
In this article, the authors present an approach to motivating the students of an introductory programming course at the University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia. They focus on the students whose background knowledge of programming is at least equivalent to the level taught in the course and who, consequently, tend to feel disappointed with the course. To make the course more attractive to experienced programmers, the authors introduced two annual events: a two-player board game programming competition and a contest for project proposals on the subject of inheritance in object-oriented programming. Both events regularly attract considerable interest from all students attending the course, not only from those with sufficient prior knowledge. The contest for project proposals benefits not only the proponents themselves but also the teaching staff, since the best proposals may be re-used as homework projects in the future years.