A Competency Structure Model of Object-Oriented Programming

Our project COMMOOP aims to develop a competency structure model and appropriate measurement instruments for the field of object-oriented programming (OOP). We started by reviewing existing literature on competency modelling in other subject areas regarding the development methodology as well as the model structures, identified common structural elements, verified, expanded and refined these based on an extensive literature analysis on theoretical and empirical studies on teaching and learning as well as on psychological aspects in the field of OOP. As theoretically derived candidates for potential competency dimensions we identified (1) OOP content knowledge and skills, (2) mastering representation, (3) cognitive processes and (4) metacognitive processes. This theoretically derived model framework was validated based on various competency descriptions in terms of applicability and completeness. For this purpose, we identified competency descriptions related to OOP in 44 computer science curricula and standards from several countries and compared these with our model. Further, we applied it to a list of competency definitions that was extracted by a working group at the ITiCSE 2015 from 14 case studies on K12 in 12 different countries. Finally, the structure model was aligned with the results of a survey among 59 computer science teachers and teacher students on learning difficulties. At the end, it turned out that our proposed model was quite complete already.