Digital Commons Network^™

Coping With Diverse Student Backgrounds In A First Year Engineering Computing Subject, Ernest Y. Baafi, Michael J. Boyd, Sarah R. Lambert

Sarah Lambert

Each year, students enrolled in the subject Engineering Computing 1 at the University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia, are surveyed on the first day of classes in order to assess their prior knowledge of the subject content. The survey results show considerable diversity in students’ backgrounds. On average, about 10% are not familiar with the use of personal computers (PCs), 5% have never used e-mail/World Wide Web, 30% have not used spreadsheets and 60% have not programmed in a high level language. However, within these averages are some students with advanced skills and others with quite limited skills. Many of those …