Using a student response system in CS1 and CS2

Abstract

Professors are continually exploring ways to increase the engagement of their students, but are sometimes concerned that doing "fun" things in class could adversely affect student learning. Over the course of several semesters, we had the same professor teach several CS1 and CS2 courses for computer science and game development majors. As part of his classroom approach, the professor used a student response system to engage the students in the flow of the lecture. In this paper, we examine the relationships between student participation using the student response system and student performance in the course assessments. We also explore the relationship between each student's perceived mastery of course topics and their demonstrated mastery of those topics on the Final Exam. Finally, we explore several differences between the multiple courses included in the study.