The synthesis of a unified pedagogy for the design and evaluation of e-learning software for high-school computing

Abstract

This study develops a unified pedagogy for the design and evaluation of e-learning software for high-school Computer Science. In accordance with the pedagogy, prototype e-learning software was developed for use in student instruction and independent learning. The pedagogy was iteratively refined based on the evaluation of teachers and education experts and the resulting e-learning software was developed considering student feedback. The problem domain focuses on the UK's recent shift in educational emphasis towards Computer Science GCSEs; however, the findings are broadly transferable to other developed nations. The pedagogy synthesizes the following learning theories: Constructivism, Social Constructivism, Connectivism, Cognitive Load, ARCS and VARK learning styles, these were in turn distilled into 31 heuristics. The research is broken into three phases, the first two phases are discussed in this paper; Phase 1 is the Initial Pedagogical Strategy and Prototype, Phase 2 is the Elaboration via Action Research.