Game-based learning for basic programming courses: Discover students’ attitudes and interests

Authors

  • Wei Boon Quah Fakulti Pengajian Pendidikan, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia
  • Noraini Mohd Banua Sungai Petani Community College, Kedah, Malaysia
  • Zulhana Zulkifle Sungai Petani Community College, Kedah, Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37134/jictie.vol10.1.2.2023

Keywords:

basic programming, game-based learning, attitude, interest

Abstract

The basic programming course is one of the challenging, difficult, and complex courses for community college students at Kedah State. In this course, students must know the basic concepts and structures as well as the basic syntax of computer programming. The challenge is that students are less interested in learning theoretically and have difficulty creating programming code to solve simple programming problems. In this study, three objectives are pursued: (i) to determine students' attitudes toward the basic programming course, (ii) to determine students' interest in using the C# VENTURE application game, (iii) to determine differences in students' attitudes toward the basic programming course according to gender, and (iii) to determine differences in students' interest in the C# VENTURE application game according to gender. There were 54 participants in this study. In this study, questionnaires were used as instruments, which were distributed through Google Forms. The results show that the mean score of (4.18) for students' attitudes is at a high level. In addition, students' interest in C# VENTURE application games is also high with a mean of (4.47). The results of the independent samples t-test showed that there is no significant difference in the mean attitude of students for male and female student groups. The results of the t-test for independent samples also show that there is no significant difference between the average student interest in the C# application game VENTURE for male and female student groups. In conclusion, community college students are positive towards the basic programming course, although this course is very difficult and complex. Moreover, students showed a great interest in using C# VENTURE application games in teaching and learning (T&L) for this course. It is proposed to conduct a quasi-experimental study to investigate the effectiveness of the C# VENTURE application game in teaching and learning (T&L) for the basic programming course.

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Author Biographies

Wei Boon Quah, Fakulti Pengajian Pendidikan, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia

Wei Boon, Quah is an education officer of higher learning in the field of Hotel Operation. He has been in service with Sungai Petani Community College since 2012 until present. He holds a Bachelor Degree in Business (Hotel management) with honours and a Master in Business by Research (Hotel Management) from University Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Malaysia. He has received several awards including the Ministry of Higher Education Excellent Service Award (APC) 2016 and the best research paper under the Science Social category in conjunction with the SEPINO ‘17 conference at the Community College Temerloh. In addition, to being an educator and a researcher, he also serves as a reviewer for iCompEx ’17, China-USA Business Review (ISSN 1537-1514) and Chinese Business Review (ISSN 1537-1506) (2013-present), Asia innovation & invention Conference 2018, Emerald Publishing (2018-present), International Journal of Communication and Humanities (IJCoMaH), Volume 1, 2020, National Conference on The Humanities and Social Science (NACOSS V) 2020, International Conference on Communication, Management and Humanities 2020 (ICCOMAH 2020), Global Research Conference (GRaCe) 2020, and International Science And Social Science Innovation Competition (ISIC II). Furthermore, he also serves as Chief judge and judge for several innovation competition such as International Science and Social Science Innovation Competition (ISIC II) 2020, 1st e-Teaching Enhancement & Learning Innovation Carnival 2020, International Innovation Competition (INNOCOM 2020), National Innovation and Invention Competition through Exhibition (iCompEx 2020), International Invention & Innovative Competition (InIIC Series 1/2020), and International Science and Social Science Innovation Competition (I-ISIC 2019). He is an avid researcher with more than 40 publications in indexed journals, proceedings, chapters in book, newsletters and others. He has obtained RM 50K TVET Applied Research Grant Scheme (T-ARGS) and has won more than 13 Gold and 6 special award from both local and international innovation competition.

Noraini Mohd Banua, Sungai Petani Community College, Kedah, Malaysia

Noraini Binti Mohd Banua is an education officer of higher learning in the field of System Computer and Network. She has been in service with Bandar Darulaman Community College since 2005 until present. She holds a Bachelor of Science Computer from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). She has received several awards including the Ministry of Higher Education Excellent Service Award (APC) 2011 and 2018. Her research interests are in teaching and learning, information technology, internet of things, instructional and educational technology.

Zulhana Zulkifle, Sungai Petani Community College, Kedah, Malaysia

Zulhana Zulkifle is an education officer of higher learning in the field of System Computer and Network. She has been in service with Bandar Darulaman Community College since 2003 until present. She holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Computer Systems and Communications) from Universiti Putra Malaysia and a Master of Science (Intelligent System) from University Utara Malaysia (UUM), Malaysia. She has received several awards including the Ministry of Higher Education Excellent Service Award (APC) 2020. Her research interests are in computer technology, cyber security, teaching and learning, and educational technology.

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Published

2023-06-01

How to Cite

Quah, W. B., Mohd Banua, N., & Zulkifle, Z. (2023). Game-based learning for basic programming courses: Discover students’ attitudes and interests. Journal of ICT in Education, 10(1), 14–24. https://doi.org/10.37134/jictie.vol10.1.2.2023