Smart-Learning Course Transformation for an Introductory Programming Course

The rapid advance in technology has changed how people teach and how students learn. The affordability of smart devices and the abundant variety of mobile applications, web-based applications, movie making tools, and assessment tools has provided a new spectrum for educators to enhance the way courses are delivered, which enabled educators to implement many Smart Learning concepts such as Active learning, Cooperative learning, and Problem-based learning. This paper is the result of a Smart learning course transformation process that was done on an introductory-level programming course. Our goals were to utilize the technologies and mobile applications available to our students to overcome the main problems encountered when learning programming for the first time, which are building a mental model of the program while it executes, and visualizing abstract concepts that are hard to grasp. We added movies and animations to overcome these problems and encouraged cooperative learning. The newly adopted teaching pedagogies proved to be very effective. A survey showed that students are able to better understand the material. They are engaged during class and able to work independently. They cooperated with each other to design and implement creative projects. They are more interested in the topic of programming.