Course Delivery Methods, Student Success, and Self-efficacy in Introductory Programming

Self-efficacy has been claimed to be a predictor of students' motivation and learning [1]. It has been found to be sensitive to students' success, and to affect their academic achievement. In the CS/IT education context, where the drop rates are high, it is important that students not only gain knowledge and skills, but also self-efficacy, so that they persist in the program. In this study, we investigate 602 students taking an introductory Python course via different delivery methods: (i) traditional in-person; (ii) cohort in-person; (iii) synchronous online; and (iv) asynchronous online. Although modality predicted retention and success, we found no apparent links among learning, student retention, and self-efficacy. However we found evidence that cohort learning may in particular help struggling students catch up with their peers.