Growing the Pipeline: Restructuring an Introductory Computer Programming Course

New data show that students' interest in computer science is declining. It has been noted that lower enrollment may be due to the bust of the "dot com " industry, to the perception that computer science jobs have been outsourced, and to the way that the discipline is being introduced and taught to a group of students who have grown up using the computer. The current research is an exploratory study that investigates computer self-efficacy and its influence in the decision to participate in collaborative learning in an introductory computer programming course. Preliminary results of the study find that students have a healthy sense of their computing abilities and that computer self-efficacy does not impact their decision to participate in a collaborative learning experience.