Assessment of the Learning Outcomes through Certification Examination: A Correlational Study
Catherine N. Arellano, Cherry Lyn C. Sta. Romana, Cheryl Balan Pantaleon, Myrliza Areola Villamor · 2023
This study assessed the attainment of the specific learning outcomes from the CSIT122 - Intermediate Programming course of the Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (BSCS) first–year students through C Programming II Certification provided by CodeChum. It also determined the overall performance of the students in the certification. Furthermore, it determined whether there is a relationship between the CSIT122 grades of the students and their scores in the certification. Data from the 132 respondents were collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics and correlational analysis. These students were enrolled in the CSIT122 and took the certification. They answered an 80-point certification which is made up of 20–item knowledge-based questions and 6–item coding questions worth 10 points each in 2 hours. Results showed that the majority of the students were able to achieve a high level of proficiency in the proper use of various C Programming constructs (pass rate = 93.2%, M = 15.17, SD = 2.88), use of recursion (pass rate =89.4%, M = 8.95, SD = 3.06) and implementing arrays in the program (pass rate = 82.58%, M = 8.32, SD = 3.68). However, noticeable gaps were found in the use of predefined character and string functions (pass rate = 47.73%, M = 4.49, SD = 4.49), and in solving complex and challenging problems (pass rate = 34.09%, M = 3.31, SD = 4.51). It was also found that there is a strong positive correlation (r(132) = .75, p<.001) between the CSIT122 grades and the scores of the students in the certification. In general, BSCS students performed well in the certification (pass rate = 78.03%, M = 49.93, SD = 17.91). The findings of this study served as the basis for the college to continuously implement the certification and strengthen the delivery of topics with unsatisfactory results.