Introductory programming at Lincoln: attributes of successful students

Abstract

In 1994, the introductory programming class at Lincoln University, New Zealand was surveyed, and logistic and ordinal regression models were used to determine the student attributes associated with achievement. Students who intended to major in computing were more likely to achieve than those with other intentions, and older students were more likely to achieve than younger students. Other factors such as gender, previous exposure to computing at a tertiary level, previous tuition in English, experience in programming and experience with computers in general, all had no apparent association with achievement. Female students had a lower pass rate than males but this was because a smaller proportion of females intended to major in computing.