The impact of delaying an easier unit in an introductory computer literacy course

This study investigates the impact of rearranging core topics in an introductory computer literacy course, specifically of moving an easier topic from the beginning of the course to the end. Our past experience has indicated that starting a course with material more familiar to students led them to develop expectations of an easier course and that they subsequently struggled to readjust when encountering the more difficult subjects. This study looks at six course sections taught by three different instructors in the new experimental order, and compares the results to previous, paired control sections. While this study indicates that students prefer the new ordering, there was no clear change in student grades.