AN ANALYSIS ON DISTANCE EDUCATION COMPUTER PROGRAMMING STUDENTS' ATTITUDES REGARDING PROGRAMMING AND THEIR SELF-EFFICACY FOR PROGRAMMING

This study aims to analyze the attitudes of students studying computer programming through the distance education regarding programming, and their self-efficacy for programming and the relation between these two factors. The study is conducted with 104 students being thought with distance education in a university in the north region of Turkey in spring semester of 2013-2014 academic years. Attitude Scale toward Computer Programming (AStCP) and Computer Programming Self-Efficacy Inventory (CPSEI) are used as data collecting tool. The study is conducted within the descriptive scanning model. The data collected during the study is analyzed with Mann Whitney U test, independent t-test and Pearson Correlation coefficient for answering the research questions. According to the results of the study the attitudes of the students regarding programming are generally positive and their self-efficacy for programming are at high level. There is statistically important difference in the attitudes of students regarding programming in accordance with their gender and grade level. Accordingly, their self-efficacy differentiates statistically by these two variables. Finally, it is concluded that there is a positive relation in average level between the attitudes of the students regarding programming and their self-efficacy for programming.