D278 – Scripting and Programming - Foundations

Assessment materials misaligned with learning activities

Course materials (readings/prep) do not align with assessments (OAs/labs) — exam/lab expectations differ from what is taught

• [Some of these aren’t even written like this in the zybooks for learning nor the cohorts I’ve seen...] [I passed as competent the very first time but still failed the oa because it’s wildly different.]

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• ["I understand the course material fine. However, when I start doing the labs I am so confused. I have been stuck on labs for several days until I look at the cohorts on how it is done. Feels like I go from doing simple math problems to word problems with very little context."]

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Insufficient or low-quality instructional materials

ZyBooks content is poorly organized or presented in large, non-incremental chunks, making learning difficult and prompting students to seek external resources

• For anyone who struggles with zybooks and the material being not great

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• I'm struggling following along with the Zybooks. ... that's where I lose it. I tried some HTML/CSS courses from FreeCodeCamp and I liked how they structured the course. Feeding me little bits of new information as I go.

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Proctoring rules and exam platform burdens

Exam platform/browser reliability issues prevent viewing required materials (diagrams) during assessment

• Near the end of the exam the browser we are supposed to use stopped functioning properly. I was unable to see the diagrams...

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tooling_environment_misconfiguration_or_guidance

Coral coding environment lacks clear instructions or tutorials (e.g., how to set input variables); missing demo/video guidance

• [...] not understanding how to set the input each time. My thought was that numScarves would set the variable but each time I’m wrong. Wish they had a video tutorial [...]

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workflow_or_policy_barriers

Degree-plan/track assignment workflow prevents selecting or assigning the correct programming track before course start, and mentors cannot view or adjust plans early

• [By default everyone "starts" in the Java track, ... my transfer would be re-evaluated after I was assigned to the C# track, which would happen "after my first term." ... I want to finish this in the one term ... Can my mentor just assign me to the C# track on the 1st? Apparently she cannot see my degree plan until then either, but she doesn't work that day. She intends to approve terms that day, but if I can't move classes around then will I be stuck doing whatever she chose until I can talk to her on the 3rd?]

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