Exploring the Impact of Open Pedagogy on Minority Students' Motivation, Computational Thinking, and Perceived...

Area of Science:

• Educational Technology
• Computer Science Education
• Higher Education Pedagogy

Background:

• Open Educational Resources (OERs) are increasingly adopted in higher education.
• Open pedagogy, a learner-centered strategy, empowers students to create and adapt open educational materials.
• This study explores open pedagogy's impact on minority students in computer game programming.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of an open pedagogy project on minority students' motivation.
• To assess the impact of open pedagogy on minority students' perceived learning in computer game programming.
• To compare learning outcomes between open pedagogy and traditional instruction for minority students.

Main Methods:

• An experimental design was used with 58 minority students in computer game programming courses.
• Participants were divided into two groups: open pedagogy (30 students) and traditional instruction (28 students).
• Quantitative analysis was performed on collected data to compare motivation, computational thinking, and perceived learning.

Main Results:

• Minority students in the open pedagogy group reported significantly higher motivation, particularly regarding pressure/tension.
• Students in the open pedagogy group demonstrated significantly higher levels of computational thinking.
• Perceived learning performance in computer programming was significantly higher for students in the open pedagogy group.

Conclusions:

• Open pedagogy enhances motivation and perceived learning for minority students in computer game programming.
• The study suggests open pedagogy is an effective approach for improving computational thinking skills.
• Limitations include a short intervention period and a small sample size, warranting further research.