The First Five Years of a Dual Track Programming Series
Christopher J. Nitta, Kurt Eiselt · 2024
The varying skill levels of students in entry-level university programming courses complicates an already challenging task for instructors. Combining students of differing skill levels into a single course can have negative impact on the classroom experience making some students feel inadequate compared to their peers. Prior to 2018, our large four-year R1 research university in the United States had a single lower-division programming sequence. Since only a single sequence existed all students (both majors and non-majors) were grouped together in the same courses. In this paper we analyze the impact of developing a dual lower division programming course sequence and deploying a placement exam. Our analysis tracks student performance in upper division courses over the first five years of the dual track programming course sequence, and we present the performance difference based upon the particular track the students take.