Ranking of problems and solutions in the teaching and learning of object-oriented programming

Area of Science:

• Computer Science Education
• Software Engineering Pedagogy

Background:

• Object-oriented programming (OOP) presents significant pedagogical challenges.
• Existing literature highlights difficulties in teaching and learning OOP concepts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and categorize the most relevant problems and solutions in OOP education.
• To rank identified solutions using multi-criteria decision methods.
• To propose strategies for improving OOP teaching and learning.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature review across major academic repositories (IEEE Xplore, Scopus, ACM Digital Library, Science Direct).
• Application of DEMATEL and TOPSIS multi-criteria decision methods for ranking problems and solutions.
• Categorization of identified OOP teaching and learning challenges and their corresponding solutions.

Main Results:

• Key problems include difficulties in understanding object-orientation, classes, and object-oriented relationships.
• The most effective solutions involve active learning techniques, intrinsic rewards, and early introduction of OOP concepts.
• A clear categorization of OOP problems and actionable strategies for improvement were developed.

Conclusions:

• There is a strong alignment between the identified literature-based problems/solutions and expert-identified weaknesses in OOP education.
• The study provides a framework for enhancing the teaching and learning of object-oriented programming.
• Recommendations focus on pedagogical strategies and curriculum design for better OOP comprehension.