Both the student and teaching bodies were overall content with the implementation of both library tutorials. Students found the tutorials helpful and allowed them to implement the libraries in a successful manner. The staff was pleased by the improved utilization and creative solutions provided during the end assignments. Both tutorials did however have a unique style and in doing so proved to be suited for their specific target group.
The OpenCV tutorial required more work and was regarded as a harder concept. The students that finished this tutorial showed they mastered a good basic understanding and where likewise rewarded for their efforts in their grades. On the other hand, these students did require more assistance and it was less suited for self‐guided use. In the design of the tutorial the required support has been used as a guiding factor. OpenCV has been implemented using the new Guided Read‐in concept because it fitted well. The OFxGui tutorial was mainly used by students that did not attend the tutorial sessions and proved a better option for self‐guided learning. The easily available learning content and more intuitive concept helped many students to still incorporate the library in their end assignment in a later stage. Again, due to this reason the original Flipped Classroom methodology has been chosen as the form of implementation. The complexity of the two libraries has been matched with the structure of the teaching methods. the OpenCV tutorial required more exploration which fitted better to the Guided Read‐in method. Likewise, the OFxGui had an already available online tutorial documentation which made it ideal for Flipped classroom. Both methodologies have clear pro’s and con’s but comparing them with respect to each other is quite impossible. Both methodologies are suited for completely different purposes and both exist within the context of introductory programming education.
Regarding the Flipped classroom principle, conclusions can be drawn about its suitedness for academic purposes. Courses with quite some freedom in working towards the exams are less suited for the Flipped classroom approach. This is because introducing Flipped classroom does require intermitted deadlines to keep students on track. This could be the explanation why it works so well in secondary school, as students there have weekly homework assignments. A very easy way to introduce these intermittent deadlines is by establishing tutorials that are mandatory to sign off.
The Guided Read‐in itself is a very convenient method of introducing difficult principles while still using the Flipped classroom approach. It allows students to introduce themselves into the topic before a lecture, while during the lecture more time can be spent on more advanced principles.
Finally, when designing a tutorial regarding libraries the overall style has to be taken into account. Flipped classroom will not be a good approach for all types of libraries. Whenever new principles have to be introduced to the students it is advisable to supply them with a Read‐in first and afterward hold a lecture that introduces them to the topic. If the library is quite self‐explanatory students will be better off with a complete Flipped Classroom approach. When introducing students to the Flipped classroom approach, the teacher has to keep in mind that deadlines do help students to keep on track and that not all students react toward the Flipped classroom approach in the same manner.
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CHAPTER 10 FUTURE WORK
In doing this research one main concern arose. Currently there is quite some research going on improving the educational system. This thesis however encountered a problem that had not been addressed yet. The impact of the detailed structure of a module can be quite severe. During this research the motivation of students went down not due to the course itself but due to the statistics exam in the same week. Later during the course students replied that their motivation had risen again (during the panel interview). This occurred after all other deadlines had past, so students only had to focus on programming. This raises the question to what extend the impact of a course planning influences students’ motivation and their performance. Hence course planning (or better yet module planning) should be a major topic, it however is never given its proper place in research.
This research has noticed that the motivation students have is very fluctuating and highly influenced by the impact scheduling has. During the week all students had their statistics exam most students didn’t show up, those who did were mainly learning for statistics. It’s can be understood that students focus their work on whichever deadline is in front of them, but this also has a major impact on how they perceive other courses.
As a future research topic, I would suggest investigating student motivation in a continues domain throughout an entire module. This may help to understand how students behave through‐out a course and what influences their ability to be a ‘good’ student. This may sound quite trivial, but it could lead to understanding the impact made by decisions taken by the teachers. This impact is very crucial as its results are reflected in the grades obtained by all students. In education, the butterfly effect may be of greater importance then has been considered so far.