Classification of exercises in a virtual programming course

The ViSCoS program (virtual studies of computer science) provides Finnish high school students with an opportunity to study first-year university level computer science courses over the Internet. For the time being, the fourth group of high school students participates in this program. Almost half of the content in ViSCoS deals with programming. Programming has proven to be the most difficult part of our on-line study process. Of the students who dropped out of the ViSCoS program, the majority dropped out in the programming I or II courses. A more focused analysis of the exercises submitted in the programming I course highlighted the main problem in the course: the difference between the expected and observed level of difficulty of the exercises. Teachers were not able to recognize the internal difficulty of the exercises, which prevented unconfident students from solving or submitting them and subsequently, led them to give up the course. Our findings will help us to improve course settings in several ways. We are presently working to further develop a certain group of tasks in order to minimize the number of dropouts. We are creating a larger pool of tasks to offer both teachers and students the possibility of selecting the best ones for each authentic learning situation. There is also a need for more open and creatively designed exercises.