Work In progress - How elementary programming impacts student’s attitude in computer science

This paper describes the impact of a new course in elementary programming on retention and recruitment of technology majors. This new course, elementary programming (EP), was added as a precursor to a computer science course, object oriented programming (OOP), in order to recruit and retain technology majors. This study evaluates the course´s effectiveness of its mission by analyzing student´s success rates in both courses and examining factors known to contribute to declining enrollment. The cause of recruitment and retention issues are examined using computer attitude and computer experience surveys that are made available to all students enrolled in the EP course and the OOP course. The results from the fall 2006 surveys and enrollment results for the past five years support the need for the EP course and continued evaluation.