Low-Cost Active Learning Benefits for Introductory Computer Science Courses

Active learning has gained significant traction in the past decade and implementations can be found across all institutions of higher learning. While large costs are incurred to modify available spaces to technology-supported active classrooms, economy-based active learning systems that provide similar functionality could be employed instead. In this paper, we provide initial results for a comparison of second-semester programming course student learning outcomes. Students for an economy-based active learning system and a high-cost active learning classroom indicate through pre- and post-test results that there is little difference between delivery modes. This supports the emerging research that the activity, not the space is the dominant factor for active learning gains, which can alleviate some of the pressures for budgetarily challenged institutions of higher learning.