Are Animations Effective Tools for Teaching Computer Science Courses in Developing Countries ? The case of University of Dar es Salaam

Mtebe, Joel S.; Twaakyondo, Hashim M.

Are Animations Effective Tools for Teaching Computer Science Courses in Developing Countries ? The case of University of Dar es Salaam

dc.contributor.author	Mtebe, Joel S.
dc.contributor.author	Twaakyondo, Hashim M.
dc.date.accessioned	2016-03-08T11:26:59Z
dc.date.available	2016-03-08T11:26:59Z
dc.date.issued	2012
dc.description.abstract	Teaching computer science courses is a big challenge to majority of teachers in developing countries institutions. Most of these courses consist of abstract concepts where traditional pedagogical methods such as lectures and textbooks cannot be suited to enable students understand them. It becomes even more challenge due to the fact that majority of these institutions are faced with large class sizes while teaching facilities are few. Although several solutions have been proposed to alleviate these problems such as increasing student-computer ratio, improving teaching pedagogy and increasing number of teaching staff, the problem still exists. In this paper, we propose the use of computer animations as instructional tools so as to enable students learn difficult concepts in developing countries institutions. We conducted a pilot study at University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) to determine if the use of animations can enable students to learn difficult concepts easier and master course contents. The study revealed that 67% of respondents (of 108 students) indicated that animated courses enabled them to grasp difficult concepts more easily. The study also found that the process of developing animations improves the quality of course design. However, it is essential to incorporate pedagogical and instructional design principles in the whole process of development	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Joel Samson Mtebe and Hashim Twaakyondo. "Are Animations Effective Tools for Teaching Computer Science Courses in Developing Countries ? The case of University of Dar es Salaam" International Journal of Digital Information and Wireless Communications (IJDIWC) Vol. 2 Iss. 2 (2012) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/mtebe/11/	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/689
dc.publisher	Curriculum and Instruction	en_US
dc.subject	Animations	en_US
dc.subject	Simulations	en_US
dc.subject	Computer Science	en_US
dc.subject	animated courses	en_US
dc.subject	eLearning	en_US
dc.title	Are Animations Effective Tools for Teaching Computer Science Courses in Developing Countries ? The case of University of Dar es Salaam	en_US