Factors Effecting Information Technology Teacher Trainees' Programming Process

The aim of this study is to determine the problems effecting programming process of pre- service information technology teachers and the reasons of these problems by monitoring programming process. In this study, programming processes of pre-service teachers were investigated with cognitive task analysis. Six Information Technologies teacher candidates, taking Internet Based Programming course in Fall Semester of 2011-2012 academic year at the Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technologies (CEIT) at Hacettepe University, participated in the study. Participants were divided to three groups, namely advanced, intermediate and beginner according to their prior programming knowledge and experiences, Tasks of writing program and reading program were assigned to the participants. After the tasks of reading program and thinking and writing program simultaneously, interviews were made with retrospective thinking aloud procedure. The data was analyzed by the NVivo 8 package program. It was found that while participants in advanced level were more successful in the task of writing program, participants in intermediate level were more successful in the task of reading program. The findings indicated that these two processes, writing program and reading program, may require different skills and cognitive processes. SUMMARY Purpose and Significance: Positive effects of programming on students are stated in the literature. In order to perform the complex process of programming effectively, pre-service teachers are expected to have programming language at adequate level. The purpose of this study is to determine pre-service IT teachers' programming process and factors effecting programming performance and to determine the relationship between these factors. Method: This qualitative study was conducted with six pre-service IT teachers at the Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technologies (CEIT) at Hacettepe University in the Fall Semester of 2011-2012. The participants were divided into three groups including advanced, intermediate and beginner based on their previous programming knowledge and experience. Two tasks including writing and reading a code block was given to participants. Cognitive task analysis was conducted to determine the factors effecting the programming process of pre-service information technology teachers. In the task of writing a program, retrospective thinking aloud procedures were applied, whereas in the task of reading the program, a think aloud procedure was conducted. Results: It was found that while the performances of participants in the advanced level were better in the process of program writing, the participants in the intermediate level are better in the process of reading the program codes. This finding indicated that reading and writing program codes may require different skills and demand various cognitive processes. Discussion and Conclusion: In the courses of programming languages at the undergraduate level, both writing program codes and reading them as tasks are required and aimed to be developed gradually. The results of this study imply that these two tasks should not be used interchangeably. In other words, these two processes indicate differing skills and processes. When designing instructional tasks and developing course syllabi, course instructors may take these findings into account.