The Impact of an Online Self-Regulation C-Learn Teaching Tool on Student Performance in Large Computer Programming Class. A Case of Zimbabwean Higher and Tertiary Education.

The demand for higher and tertiary education in Africa is now high, and as a result, public institutions are enrolling many students, a phenomenon now called massification [21], [11]. The term massification is defined as the increase in the enrollment of students without a proportionate boost in resources [1], [9]. Zimbabwean universities are enrolling many students to fund operations since government funding has dwindled [5], [8]. The provision of quality education is becoming a challenge due to the high lecturer-student ratio, especially on courses that are highly practical in nature [1]. There is a lack of proper management and engagement of students in very large classes, and as a result, students resort to memorizing content learned instead of engaging in critical thinking [9], [6]. Literature points out that if students develop self-regulated learning strategies, they will overcome challenges brought by massification [14]. The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate the impact of a multimedia teaching tool in assisting students to develop self-regulated learning strategies so that they improve their performance while learning computer programming in a large class setup. Purposive sampling was used in this study, and the researcher adhered to design science research methodology. Students enrolled in introduction to computer programming used the multimedia CLearn teaching tool that was developed hence purposive sampling was used in this study. One class (BITH131) was the control group and students enrolled in BSIT 131 were the experimental group. Results obtained indicated that students who used the C-Learn teaching tool performed better in a programming test as compared to students in the control group.