Students Programming Competitions as an Educational Tool and a Motivational Incentive to Students

Abstract: In this short paper we report on student programming competition results by students from the Computer Science Department (COSC) of Okanagan College (OC) and discuss the achieved results from an educational point of view. We found that some freshmen and sophomore students in diploma and degree programs are very capable and eager to be involved in applied research projects as early as the second semester, and into local and international programming competitions as well. Our observation is based on the last 2 educational years, beginning 2015 when we introduced programming competitions to COSC students. Students reported that participation in competitions give them motivation to effectively learn in their programming courses, inspire them to learn deeper and more thoroughly, and help them achieve better results in their classes.