Improving the Success of Non-Traditional Students in an Introductory Computing Course

Abstract

This Work in Progress Research to Practice paper presents a redesign of an introduction to computing course at a public, minority serving institution in the United States with a majority of non-traditional students. The course redesign was motivated by the desire to improve the success of the students in this course and in the major. Active learning during class and required attendance were the major components of the course redesign. The course policies included flexibility for the occasional absences that are expected with non-traditional students. A comparison of student performance in the experimental and control sections indicated that the requirement of active participation during class is not detrimental to students' performance in the course.