Effect of Periodic sTiGD Activity on Long-Term Performance in System Programming Course

Abstract

Teaching strategies that involve periodic formative assessment and group discussion have been established to be effective for students' conceptual understanding. While these practices are not new, they are not commonly used in the typical Indian university context. Reasons include a lack of formal training in research-based training practices, lack of technological resources and a culture where lecturing is the norm. In the current study, we adapt effective teaching techniques from education research with the goal of improving students' conceptual understanding, while at the same time making sure that these techniques are easily implement able in a lecture-based class by instructors without formal training in educational research. We implement a combination of periodic short objective tests, followed by immediate group discussion and feedback, in a Systems Programming course. Using a two group experimental design, we show that students' performance improved in written and oral exams and on aptitude tests on the topics.