Computing students approaches to learning in relation to entry pathways and their age

The study aimed to examine the relationship between Singaporean undergraduate computing students’ approaches to learning with regard to entry pathways and their age. Data were gathered with the use of the R-SPQ-2F on 186 students. Data analysis was made through the use of descriptive statistics involving mean and standard deviation, percentages and frequency distribution, cross tabulations and one-way ANOVA. In this study, 186 out of 223 students responded, representing a percentage of 83.0%. The participants have mean age of 21.45 ± 1.952 years. Out of 184 students, 133 were males, with a percentage of 72.3. In terms of entry pathways, 75 students (40.8%) were from GCE A-level, 97 students (52.7%) were from polytechnic diploma while 12 students (6.5%) were from other pathways. The findings showed that among the 184 undergraduate computing students who participated, 141 students or 76.6% utilised the deep learning approach while 43 students or 23.4% used the surface learning approach. The students’ mean deep approach scores of 30.83 ± 6.307 was higher, compared that of surface approach scores of 22.74 ± 5.521. From the results, it is clear that the deep approach to learning is the most dominant learning approach regardless of entry pathways and age. Furthermore, it is evident that entry pathways and age do not have a significant effect on the learning approaches adopted by the learners.