The online teaching of programming languages: Examining learner's attitudes, satisfaction and success

The overall objectives of the present study are to determine the learners' gratifications and their attitudes towards the Distance Learning Platform (DLP) which is an Online Learning Media prepared for the course Programming Languages I , to get feedback on the platform from learners and to make a comparison between the success of distance learners and traditional learners. In this context, learners' attitudes towards Online Learning and the course Programming Languages were tried to be determined and the factors affecting their gratification of Online Learning were investigated. Finally, their opinions on the online course that they took were explored. In the study in which the mixed method was used, the collection of more detailed data was aimed by using the superior aspects of both methods. This study can be charactarized as a simultaneous mixed method design in terms of time and as mainly quantitative mixed method design in terms of importance. While the quantitative data were collected from the achievement scores of Programming Languages course, attendance rates, the scale of attitudes towards Online Learning, the Distance Learning Gratification Scale, and the scale of Attitudes towards Programming Languages; the qualitative data were obtained from the face to face interviews conducted with the learners through a semi-structured interview form. The sample group of the study consists of 38 learners studying at the Department of Computers Education and Instructional Technologies and taking the course Programming Languages I. The experimental group was selected through the purposive sampling while the control group was selected by using the matching design. The learners in the experimental group took the courses only distantly during the 14-week period. The learners in the control group, on the other hand, took the courses through traditional methods. The learners who took courses through DLP and some virtual classroom applications had exactly the same number of hours as the traditional group did. Mid-term and final exams prepared by the experts of the field were evaluated as the learners' achievement scores. While the Attitudes towards Programming Languages Scale was applied to the learners in both groups at the end of the semester, the Attitudes towards Online Learning Scale and Distance Learning Gratification Scale were only applied to the experimental group. The results of the study demonstrated that learners in the experimental group were more successful than the learners in the control group and that they attended classes more often. Besides, the experimental group had more positive attitudes towards the course Programming Languages. The results also showed that the experimental group had positive attitudes towards online learning and that they really valued the course Programming Languages. It can also be concluded that the learners in the experimental group enjoyed the course more and that they were more confident and motivated. As a result of the interviews conducted with the learners, it was found that the learners had some positive opinions on DLP as it (1) offers flexibility, (2) contains elements enhancing their motivation, (3) enables the learners to communicate easily with the instructor, (4) provides the learners with instant feedback and (5) enables them to attain course materials easily, etc. Keywords: Distance Education, Online Learning, Programming Languages, Attitude, Satisfaction, Academic achievement, Learning Management System, Instructional design