The SNS-based E-mentoring and Development of Computational Thinking for Undergraduate Students in an Online Course

Given the importance of digital technology in daily life, computational thinking (CT) has become a necessary skill for everyone, not just for computer scientists. For CT development, students need to receive appropriate social learning support. However, instructors find it difficult to provide such support to many students in online courses. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of e-mentoring via social network services (SNS) in developing students' CT during large-scale online courses. A total of 327 undergraduate students volunteered to participate in this study, which included 16 weeks of lectures aimed at developing CT. The effects of SNS-based e-mentoring on CT development, the influences of each e-mentoring activity on CT development, and gender differences were analyzed using data on participants' CT assistance scores and their utilization of e-mentoring activities. The findings indicated that SNS-based e-mentoring was effective in developing the CT of undergraduate students' engagement in a large-scale online course. The most influential e-mentoring activities for students' CT development were informational and technical support in a group and informational support in a private environment. Female students benefited more from SNS-based e-mentoring than male students, and they also engaged in more types of e-mentoring activities than male students. Participation in SNS-based e-mentoring was found to lower the gap in CT between students with and without prior learning experience. Our study findings can be used by educational institutions and instructors when designing courses for students' CT development in large-scale online courses or when developing strategies to close the gender gap in CT ability.