335 research outputs found
Fostering Program Comprehension in Novice Programmers - Learning Activities and Learning Trajectories
This working group asserts that Program Comprehension (ProgComp) plays a critical part in the process of writing programs. For example, this paper is written from a basic draft that was edited and revised until it clearly presented our idea. Similarly, a program is written incrementally, with each step tested, debugged and extended until the program achieves its goal. Novice programmers should develop program comprehension skills as they learn to code so that they are able both to read and reason about code created by others, and to reflect on their code when writing, debugging or extending it. To foster such competencies our group identified two main goals: (g1) to collect and define learning activities that explicitly address key components of program comprehension and (g2) to define tentative theoretical learning trajectories that will guide teachers as they select and sequence those learning activities in their CS0/CS1/CS2 or K-12 courses. The WG has completed the first goal and laid down a strong foundation towards the second goal as presented in this report. After a thorough literature review, a detailed description of the Block Model is provided, as this model has been used with a dual purpose, to classify and present an extensive list of ProgComp tasks, and to describe a possible learning trajectory for a complex task, covering different cells of the Block Model matrix. The latter is intended to help instructors to decompose complex tasks and identify which aspects of ProgComp are being fostered
Recognising object-oriented software design quality : a practitioner-based questionnaire survey
Design quality is vital if software is to be maintainable. What practices do developers actually use to achieve design quality in their day-to-day work and which of these do they find most useful? To discover the extent to which practitioners concern themselves with object-oriented design quality and the approaches used when determining quality in practice, a questionnaire survey of 102 software practitioners, approximately half from the UK and the remainder from elsewhere around the world was used. Individual and peer experience are major contributors to design quality. Classic design guidelines, well-known lower level practices, tools and metrics all can also contribute positively to design quality. There is a potential relationship between testing practices and design quality. Inexperience, time pressures, novel problems, novel technology, and imprecise or changing requirements may have a negative impact on quality. Respondents with most experience are more confident in their design decisions, place more value on reviews by team leads and are more likely to rate design quality as very important. For practitioners, these results identify the techniques and tools that other practitioners find effective. For researchers, the results highlight a need for more work investigating the role of experience in the design process and the contribution experience makes to quality. There is also the potential for more in-depth studies of how practitioners are actually using design guidance, including Clean Code. Lastly, the potential relationship between testing practices and design quality merits further investigation
Challenges to Pedagogical Content Knowledge in lesson planning during curriculum transition: a multiple case study of teachers of ICT and Computing in England.
In September 2014 the new National Curriculum programmes of study for Computing became mandatory in England, replacing Information and Communications Technology (ICT) as a school subject and introducing Computer Science into schools. This posed a challenge for in-service ICT teachers without Computer Science subject knowledge: teachers needed to develop both subject and pedagogical knowledge to make the transition from teaching ICT to teaching Computing.
This multiple case study explores teachers’ perceptions of the curriculum change and how they have responded in practical and pedagogical terms to planning lessons aligning with the new programmes of study. Nine teachers participated, each of whom had been teaching ICT pre-2014. The study used semi-structured interview questions while teachers engaged in lesson-planning activities, captured mostly using desktop-sharing via internet telephony. A modified version of Shulman’s pedagogical reasoning framework and Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) facilitated analysis of teachers’ pedagogic practices in lesson planning.
The study shows teachers’ concerns about the lack of clarity surrounding the curriculum change, and the lack of access to suitable professional development (CPD). Most highlighted the primacy of programming and Computer Science at the expense of Information Technology and Digital Literacy, the other two strands of the new curriculum.
The study also shows the dynamic nature of lesson planning. Knowledge deficits slowed down the fluency of teachers’ lesson-planning processes, but the use of lesson materials created by others helped them to develop PCK. The term transitional pedagogical reasoning has been used to describe the process by which unfamiliar but necessary concepts are assimilated into the pedagogical reasoning process while the teacher develops sufficient subject knowledge and PCK.
Recommendations have been made for Computing curriculum policies to recognise and promote Computing pedagogy. This understanding should underpin initial teacher education in Computing, CPD for in-service teachers, and strategic development of the subject in the longer term
College was a slap in the face: examining the transition of Kentucky Appalachian students studying STEM at an urban institution.
This phenomenological qualitative study examines the lived experience of fourteen rural Appalachian Kentucky (AKY) students studying STEM at an urban university. This study seeks to investigate the unique experiences of AKY students transitioning to STEM majors in college and examines the common factors between their transitional experience into college while addressing compounding factors of a rigorous STEM major and a new cultural setting at an urban institution. This study utilizes Schlossberg’s transitional theory as the framework for analysis. Four key themes emerged from this data: a need for a strong support system, academic preparation, university focus on support and interventions, as well as individual adaptation. Key findings include a strong emphasis for support from both family and university is needed to enhance the adaptation throughout the transitional experience
Student Expectations: The effect of student background and experience
CONTEXT
The perspectives and previous experiences that students bring to their programs of study can affect their approaches to study and the depth of learning that they achieve Prosser & Trigwell, 1999; Ramsden, 2003). Graduate outcomes assume the attainment of welldeveloped independent learning skills which can be transferred to the work-place.
PURPOSE
This 5-year longitudinal study investigates factors influencing students’ approaches to learning in the fields of Engineering, Software Engineering, and Computer Science, at two higher education institutes delivering programs of various levels in Australia and New Zealand. The study aims to track the development of student approaches to learning as they progress through their program. Through increased understanding of students’ approaches, faculty will be better able to design teaching and learning strategies to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student body. This paper reports on the first stage of the project.
APPROACH
In August 2017, we ran a pilot of our survey using the Revised Study Process Questionnaire(Biggs, Kember, & Leung, 2001) and including some additional questions related to student demographics and motivation for undertaking their current program of study. Data were analysed to evaluate the usefulness of data collected and to understand the demographics of the student cohort. Over the period of the research, data will be collected using the questionnaire and through focus groups and interviews.
RESULTS
Participants provided a representative sample, and the data collected was reasonable, allowing the questionnaire design to be confirmed.
CONCLUSIONS
At this preliminary stage, the study has provided insight into the student demographics at both institutes and identified aspects of students’ modes of engagement with learning. Some areas for improvement of the questionnaire have been identified, which will be implemented for the main body of the study
The equivalence of Internet versus paper-based surveys in IT/IS adoption research in collectivistic cultures: the impact of satisficing
An increasing proportion of information technology (IT)/information system adoption research collects data using online surveys. However, a paucity of research assesses the equivalence of paper-based versus Internet-based surveys in collectivistic cultures. Furthermore, no theoretical or empirical research investigates how cultural differences between collectivistic and individualistic cultures influence the measurement equivalence (ME) of these survey modes. To explore these issues, online and paper-based surveys with comparable samples were carried out in both an individualistic (the USA) and a collectivistic culture (China). Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to examine the ME across both survey modes in these different cultures. Results indicate that the relatively larger satisficing discrepancy between paper and online surveys causes respondents in collectivistic cultures to have an increased likelihood of providing responses that vary as compared to respondents in individualistic cultures. The disparate responses, in turn, result in increased measurement variance between the two survey modes. The findings of this study bridge a gap in the literature and address the question of how culture influences online satisficing behaviour and how that behaviour causes measurement invariance across survey modes. This study also explains the possible underlying mechanisms by which different national cultures exert their influence on survey results. The findings provide important implications for IT researchers, especially those in collectivistic cultures or those who need to collect data in collectivistic cultures using online surveys or mixed-mode surveys that include an online survey mode
Innovative Learning Environments in STEM Higher Education
As explored in this open access book, higher education in STEM fields is influenced by many factors, including education research, government and school policies, financial considerations, technology limitations, and acceptance of innovations by faculty and students. In 2018, Drs. Ryoo and Winkelmann explored the opportunities, challenges, and future research initiatives of innovative learning environments (ILEs) in higher education STEM disciplines in their pioneering project: eXploring the Future of Innovative Learning Environments (X-FILEs). Workshop participants evaluated four main ILE categories: personalized and adaptive learning, multimodal learning formats, cross/extended reality (XR), and artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). This open access book gathers the perspectives expressed during the X-FILEs workshop and its follow-up activities. It is designed to help inform education policy makers, researchers, developers, and practitioners about the adoption and implementation of ILEs in higher education
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