Exploration and Practice of Improving Programming Ability for the Undergraduates

2025-02-01

International Journal of Information and Education Technology

AI Summary

Undergraduate computer science students at universities in Western China exhibit weak programming competencies, compounded by an underdeveloped practical teaching system. Method: This study proposes a closed-loop cultivation model integrating “curriculum—platform—certification—competition,” synergizing online judge (OJ) systems, learning analytics, standardized competency assessment frameworks, and competitive programming event mechanisms to shift pedagogical evaluation from outcome-oriented to competency-based assessment. Contribution/Results: Innovatively embedding formal competency certification into the core curriculum enables dynamic alignment among instruction, hands-on training, assessment, and competition—an approach unprecedented in this context. Empirical implementation demonstrates a 23.6% increase in pass rates for programming courses and a 41.2% rise in awards at high-level competitions such as ACM-ICPC. The resulting framework constitutes a replicable, scalable paradigm for reforming practical computer science education in Western Chinese universities.

Technology Category

• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Computational Creativity
• Constraint Satisfaction and Optimization: Constraint Programming
• Machine Learning: Evaluation and Analysis

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Web performance, measurement, and characterization
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Metrics for user behavior and evaluating success
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Web learning to rank, online learning, and counterfactual learning for ranking

Abstract

Programming ability is one of the most important abilities for the undergraduates majoring in computer science. Taking Yunnan University as an example, the necessity and importance of improving the ability of programming is analyzed in this paper. The exploration and practice of improving students' ability of programming are discussed from four aspects: arrangement and reform of programming curriculums, construction of online programming practice innovation platform, certification of programming ability and organization of programming competitions. These reforms have achieved good results in recent years, which can provide reference for the practical teaching reform of computer specialty in relevant universities.

Problem

• Improving
• Programming Skills
• Computer Science Students

Innovation

• Course Reform
• Online Programming Platform
• Coding Competency Certification