Reducing Students’ Dropout – The Case Of Individual Assignments

This paper describes a successful method for reinforcing individual learning habits among Computer Science students. The action research, which was performed during six years, demonstrated that improper learning habits are the main cause for the increase in the dropout rate. The method that was based on individual and unique assignments increased the students’ motivation, by transferring the learning process responsibility to the students themselves. This led to improved understanding and reduced the dropout rate. The research was conducted on two courses: Systems Architecture and Computer Organization and Programming, and has obtained similar results. The paper relates to the method and how it was implemented as well as the results obtained.