Switching to Stay Home Instruction: Impacts of the Coronavirus Pandemic on Learner Performance for an Introductory Computer Science Course

Abstract

The coronavirus pandemic of 2020 has caused significant interruptions of the regular approach to teaching. Here, we compare the impacts of Stay Home orders on the student learning outcomes in an introduction to algorithms and data structures university course. We describe an example course modification based on student feedback at the semester's half-time point, and how students performed the remainder of the semester in comparison to a comparable prior semester. We find several differences in the overall participation from the electronic textbook as well as the course overall. We do not find that there is a significant change in the overall course outcomes when contrasting the Spring 2020 course offering with that from the prior semester.