Programming course is one of the compulsory courses taken in the first year of diploma students and undergraduate students in the information system program of Universitas Airlangga. This course is considered the most challenging course for lecturers and students.

There is a stigma from students who feel that programming course is the most difficult subjects to understand. So, the main challenge for lecturers is to prove to students that with the right learning method and strategies, programming course can be learned easily in an exciting way.

Students tend to need more time to understand programming logic and algorithms, which are the main topics of programming course. For this reason, students are expected to learn the programming logic and algorithms outside the lecture session in class. One reason students find it difficult to understand is that they were not introduced to the concept of programming early on.

Programming course given in the first year are basic courses. The following year there is advanced programming courses, such as object-oriented programming, web programming, and mobile programming. So, if students succeed in understanding basic programming concepts, it will be easier for students to understand advanced programming courses in the following year.

The challenges faced by lecturers often occur when dealing with methods used to teach students. Not all students have studied programming courses, and most of them have never developed software applications before. Also, poor teaching methodologies, low levels of interaction, and lack of interest are considered challenges in the process of learning programming.

There are many methods and learning media such as Greenfoot and Alice that have been made to facilitate students in learning programming. Greenfoot and Alice are visual learning media to support programming learning. It introduces programming concepts through animation and games. Students have game projects and animation projects using Greenfoot and Alice.

Greenfoot and Alice Learning Media

Alice is a free platform developed by Carnegie Mellon University, United States, in 1997 as one of the visual learning media. This platform is designed for programming lectures by involving students for something fun like making animation. Students can run their program directly and see the connection between the programming algorithms they make and the results of their visualization.

Greenfoot is a free platform developed by the University of Kent, England, since 2003. Greenfoot focuses on making games, simulations, and applications. Greenfoot allows students to see programs executed graphically so that they can immediately confirm that their program code is functioning.

We argue that there is a significant correlation between the level of student satisfaction in using education software tools such as Alice and Greenfot on student achievement in programming course.

Method and Results

This research was conducted on 110 first semester students at Information System Diploma program, Faculty of Vocational Studies, Universitas Airlangga. The students were asked to answer ten questions that aimed to compare the effect of using education software (Alice & Greenfoot) on programming course.

The results of the analysis show that students tend to choose programs that use visual learning media, even though 70.38% of them have never studied or known Alice and Greenfoot. The main concepts of programming, such as looping, if-else, are well understood by students. It is indicated by 70% of students who understand the programming concept well after using Alice and Greenfoot.

Significance testing was also carried out to calculate the contribution of student satisfaction level to the visual learning provided by the lecturer through Alice and Greenfoot, and to link it with the value of students at the end of the semester. From the result analysis, a significant correlation between the level of student satisfaction with student grades at the end of the semester was found.

The results of this research imply that from the perspective of 110 students, visual learning media had a more significant influence in improving student grades. The results can be seen compared to traditional methods, which are only in one direction, from the lecturer to the student.

In short, visual learning media helps students to enjoy programming rather than traditional methods. Furthermore, the level of student satisfaction significantly influences student competency achievement as seen from the improving student grades after Alice and Greenfoot were involved in the learning process. (*)

Author: Nasa Zata Dina, S.Kom., M.Kom., M.Sc

Details of the research available at:

https://journals.iium.edu.my/ejournal/index.php/iiumej/article/view/993

Nasa Zata Dina, Eto Wuryanto and Rachman Sinatriya Marjianto (2019). Evaluation on The Effectiveness of Visual Learning Environment and Learning Outcomes from Students’ Perspectives. International Islamic University Malaysia Engineering Journal, 20(1): 100-107; https://doi.org/10.31436/iiumej.v20i1.993