Validation of a questionnaire to measure success in financial computing literacy

An embedded model of teaching financial computing within a course on numerical analysis in finance has been proposed recently in (Deshpande, 2017). It consists of only 10 steps that are aimed at programming beginners. These steps expect students only to be self-motivated to learn.  Hence other attributes like pre-knowledge of programming and cleverness aren’t expected to influence the learning outcome. Through qualitative assessment via laboratory observation this was indeed found to hold true. In order to understand the outcome of these 10 steps on a much finer scale, we develop here a questionnaire that measures success in financial computing literacy (SFCL) via quantitative assessment.  Four scales were developed: self-efficacy or computing confidence, active learning strategy/pro-activeness, learning environment stimulation and an achievement goal in terms of student satisfaction. Findings of this pilot study confirm construct validity of the questionnaire. Importantly we conclude that self-motivation is not enough and that tenacity is a vital component to keep motivation going. Tenacity can be induced via providing credit for attempting steps.