AMBIENTE INTEGRADO DE VISUALIZACIÓN DE ESTRUCTURAS DE DATOS PARA LA ENSEÑANZA-APRENDIZAJE DE LA PROGRAMACIÓN DE COMPUTADORAS

En el proceso de enseñanza–aprendizaje de las asignaturas de programación de computadoras, se han enfrentado a problemas en el diseño y selección adecuada de las estructuras de datos para representar la información y las operaciones básicas que con ellas se realizan, lo que dificulta la obtención de algoritmos eficientes. Con base en esta situación se desarrolla un Ambiente Integrado de Visualización de Estructuras de Datos basado en mapas conceptuales que contiene un repositorio de recursos, en el que se destaca el sistema VisualProg que tiene como entrada el código en el lenguaje SubC y cuenta con los componentes de visualización de código, de datos, del árbol de recursividad y del análisis de complejidad del programa. La implementación se fundamentó en una arquitectura concebida en tres capas: Analizador de Código, Controladora y Vista. Se utilizó la modelación para el desarrollo de los algoritmos, métodos estadísticos para comprobar la utilidad de la propuesta y validar los aportes fundamentales de la investigación. Se aplicó en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje de la asignatura Estructura de Datos de la carrera Ingeniería Informática en la Universidad de Granma, Cuba, e Ingeniería en Sistemas de la Universidad Estatal del Sur de Manabí en Ecuador. Se demuestró que la integración de técnicas de visualización contribuye a solucionar problemas relacionados con el diseño e implementación de estructuras de datos y programas. ABSTRACT In the teaching-learning process of computer programming subjects, problems have been faced in the design and adequate selection of data structures to represent the information and the basic operations that are carried out with them, which makes it difficult to obtain efficient algorithms. Based on this situation, an Integrated Environment for Visualization of Data Structures is developed based on conceptual maps that contains a resource repository, in which the VisualProg system is highlighted, which has the code in the SubC language as input and has the components of code visualization, of data, of the recursion tree and of the complexity analysis of the program. The implementation was based on an architecture conceived in three layers: Code Analyzer, Controller and View. Modeling is used to develop the algorithms, statistical methods to verify the usefulness of the proposal and validate the fundamental contributions of the research. The environment was applied in the teachinglearning process of the subject Data Structure of the Computer Engineering career at the University of Granma, Cuba and Systems Engineering of the Southern State University of Manabí in Ecuador. It is demonstrated that the integration of visualization techniques contributes to solve problems related to the design and implementation of data structures and programs. KEY WORDS: Program visualization systems, data structures, concept maps

Instructor authoring tool : a step towards promoting dynamic lecture-style classrooms

Thesis (M. Eng. and S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-64).The Instructor Authoring Tool of the Classroom Learning Partner project provides an efficient tool for university professors and other teachers of lecture-style classrooms to construct lecture slides that can easily accommodate effective in-class exercises. In designing such an authoring tool, five criterions were taken into consideration: An enhanced ability to support instructors' use of in-class exercises by facilitating the slide-generation process, the use of Microsoft PowerPoint as a basic tool, enabling real-time feedback of student performance on exercises, the leveraging of past student mistakes and misunderstood concepts in enhancing teaching, and the support of an automatic tutoring system to be implemented at a later time. These criterions were successfully met by the resulting instructor authoring tool, though improvements towards facilitating the slide-generation process and support for real-time feedback of student performance have yet to be tested in a formal academic setting.by Jessie I. Chen.M.Eng.and S.B

A review and assessment of novice learning tools for problem solving and program development

There is a great demand for the development of novice learning tools to supplement classroom instruction in the areas of problem solving and program development. Research in the area of pedagogy, the psychology of programming, human-computer interaction, and cognition have provided valuable input to the development of new methodologies, paradigms, programming languages, and novice learning tools to answer this demand. Based on the cognitive needs of novices, it is possible to postulate a set of characteristics that should comprise the components an effective novice-learning tool. This thesis will discover these characteristics and provide recommendations for the development of new learning tools. This will be accomplished with a review of the challenges that novices face, an in-depth discussion on modem learning tools and the challenges that they address, and the identification and discussion of the vital characteristics that constitute an effective learning tool based on these tools and personal ideas

Proceedings of the Second Program Visualization Workshop, 2002

The Program Visualization Workshops aim to bring together researchers who design and construct program visualizations and, above all, educators who use and evaluate visualizations in their teaching. The first workshop took place in July 2000 at Porvoo, Finland. The second workshop was held in cooperation with ACM SIGCSE and took place at HornstrupCentret, Denmark in June 2002, immediately following the ITiCSE 2002 Conference in Aarhus, Denmark

TRACING LEARNING ENVIRONMENT IN JAVA PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

The visualisation approach is one of the programming learning styles that has been taken into account in programming education. A collection of visualisation tools has emerged with the aim of assisting novice programmers in learning how to program. Each tool has its own set of features that may or may not be helpful in gaining a better understanding. The methods that we used in this study are focused on using memory referencing and visualisation to clarify what happens during individual program statement executions. Understanding the efficacy of current instructional resources is a critical component of gathering students' requirements and needs for future improvement. The “Tracing Learning Environment” (TLE) is developed for novice programmers to help them trace the sequence of execution of a software program and the reserved place of data in the memory. The framework relies on using visualisation as the programs are run and to show the effect of each statement in the code. It provides an environment for learners to see what happens to the data while running the program. The specification of the TLE draws largely on research regarding the role of visualisation in teaching computer programming and associated literature on tools to support learning programming. The TLE framework has been evaluated by conducting an empirical study using a mixed-method approach with novice and expert participants. The study has included surveys, focus groups, and semi-structured interviews. Student performance was measured before and after using the visualisation tool and compared with a control group who participated in a standard teaching session only. Early findings highlighted the need to visualise the control of the execution of code, evaluation of expressions, represent the class hierarchy along with the importance of a good interface/usability of the tool and to consider the programming languages supported. The evaluation findings are in line with the literature surrounding the benefits of using visualisation in learning to program. The findings found visualisation increased the students’ performance and confidence. When compared to the regular lab activities, the visualisation contributed to better understanding and support for learning to program.Ministry of Education, Saudi Arabi

A comparison of programming notations for a tertiary level introductory programming course

Increasing pressure from national government to improve throughput at South African tertiary education institutions presents challenges to educators of introductory programming courses. In response, educators must adopt effective methods and strategies that encourage novice programmers to be successful in such courses. An approach that seeks to increase and maintain satisfactory throughput is the modification of the teaching model in these courses by adjusting presentation techniques. This thesis investigates the effect of integrating an experimental iconic programming notation and associated development environment with existing conventional textual technological support in the teaching model of a tertiary level introductory programming course. The investigation compares the performance achievement of novice programmers using only conventional textual technological support with that of novice programmers using the integrated iconic and conventional textual technological support. In preparation for the investigation, interpretation of existing knowledge on the behaviour of novice programmers while learning to program results in a novel framework of eight novice programmer requirements for technological support in an introductory programming course. This framework is applied in the examination of existing categories of technological support as well as in the design of new technological support for novice programmers learning to program. It thus provides information for the selection of existing and the design of new introductory programming technological support. The findings of the investigation suggest strong evidence that performance achievement of novice programmers in a tertiary level introductory programming course improves significantly with the inclusion of iconic technological support in the teaching model. The benefits are particularly evident in the portion of the novice programmer population who have been identified as being at risk of being successful in the course. Novice programmers identified as being at risk perform substantially better when using iconic technological support concurrently with conventional textual technological support than their equals who use only the latter form. Considerably more at risk novice programmers using the integrated form of technological support are in fact successful in the introductory programming course when compared with their counterparts who use conventional textual technological support only. The contributions of this thesis address deficiencies existing in current documented research. These contributions are primarily apparent in a number of distinct areas, namely: • formalisation of a novel framework of novice programmer requirements for technological support in an introductory programming course; • application of the framework as a formal evaluation technique; • application of the framework in the design of a visual iconic programming notation and development environment; • enhancement of existing empirical evidence and experimental research methodology typically applied to studies in programming; as well as • a proposal for a modified introductory programming course teaching model. The thesis has effectively applied substantial existing research on the cognitive model of the novice programmer as well as that on experimental technological support. The increase of throughput to a recommended rate of 75 percent in the tertiary level introductory programming course at the University of Port Elizabeth is attributed solely to the incorporation of iconic technological support in the teaching model of the course