Enhancing Computer Students’ Academic Performance Through Explanatory Modeling

A key challenge facing nowadays universities is the growing attrition rate of computer studies students, attributed to poor academic performance. While extensive research has been conducted on how to enhance students’ performance in computer programming, fewer research investigates other computer courses, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. This paper addresses this gap by describing experiments that revealed some of the factors that influence a student’s overall academic performance at university through explanatory modeling. Our results showed that students’ background in mathematics and their performance in the Introduction to Information Systems course were key in determining performance. Unexpectedly, prior computer skills or secondary school grades had less impact. The strategies identified for enhancing students’ performance include an emphasis on building students’ mathematics background, providing a stringent teaching approach to foundational computing courses, re-structuring of courses in the computer program, and linking courses across the curriculum. Thus, explanatory modeling creates an opportunity to adopt a proactive approach to enhancing the performance of computer studies students.