Introductory programming: a systematic literature review

As computing becomes a mainstream discipline embedded in the school curriculum and acts as an enabler for an increasing range of academic disciplines in higher education, the literature on introductory programming is growing. Although there have been several reviews that focus on specific aspects of introductory programming, there has been no broad overview of the literature exploring recent trends across the breadth of introductory programming. This paper is the report of an ITiCSE working group that conducted a systematic review in order to gain an overview of the introductory programming literature. Partitioning the literature into papers addressing the student, teaching, the curriculum, and assessment, we explore trends, highlight advances in knowledge over the past 15 years, and indicate possible directions for future research

Free and open source software development of IT systems

IT system development, integration, deployment, and administration benefit significantly from free and open source software (FOSS) tools and services. Affordability has been a compelling reason for adopting FOSS in computing curricula and equipping computing labs with support infrastructure. Using FOSS systems and services, however, is just the first step in taking advantage of how FOSS development principles and practices can impact student learning in IT degree programs. Above all, FOSS development of IT systems requires changes to how students, instructors, and other contributors work collaboratively and openly and get involved and invested in project activities. In this paper I examine the challenges to engage students in FOSS development projects proposed by real clients. A six-week course project revealed problems with adopting FOSS development and collaboration across different activities and roles that student team members have assumed. Despite these problems, students have showed a genuine and strong interest in gaining more practice with FOSS development. FOSS development teaching was further refined in two other courses to learn about adequate teaching strategies and the competencies that students achieve when they participate in FOSS development of IT systems

Do Pair Programming Approaches Transcend Coding? Measuring Agile Attitudes in Diverse Information Systems Courses

Agile methods and approaches such as eXtreme programming (XP) have become the norm for successful organizations not only in the software industry but also for businesses seeking to improve internal software processes. Pair programming in some form is touted as a major functionality and productivity improvement. However, numerous studies show that simply placing two programmers side by side in front of a single computer screen is not enough. We must look at other factors such as programmer expertise, project preparation, and perceived solution quality to understand pair programming’s promises and pitfalls. In our study, we apply tailored programming challenges to a multifaceted group of first-year through senior Information Systems (IS) and non-IS majors to analyze how participant attitudes and perceived benefits of pair programming change from pre- to post-study, as well as determine whether the quality and functionality of the solutions differ across education levels and disciplines. Our findings show a strong interaction effect of gender and major composition (CIS vs. non-CIS majors) in all four dimensions of the ATMI attitude scale. Findings also suggest that experience in problem solving and solution formation are more important than prior specific domain knowledge. Finally, participants’ perceived ability, sense of accomplishment, and completion of the assigned work, regardless of background or demographic, determined their performance outcome on the pair-programming tasks, which suggests that not all forms of attitude and perceived benefits contribute to the performance outcome

A Study of Pair Programming Enjoyment and Attendance using Study Motivation and Strategy Metrics

We explore educational pair programming in a university context with high student autonomy and individual responsibility. The data comes from two separate introductory programming courses with optional pair programming assignments. We analyze lab attendance and course outcomes to determine whether students' previous programming experience or gender influence attendance. We further compare these statistics to self-reported data on study motivation, study strategies, and student enjoyment of pair programming. The influence of grading systems on pair programming behavior and course outcomes is also examined. Our results suggest that gender and previous programming experience correlate with participation in pair programming labs. At the same time, there are no significant differences in self-reported enjoyment of pair programming between any of the groups, and the results from commonly used study motivation and strategy questionnaires provide little insight into students/ actual behavior.Peer reviewe

Agile in Teaching and Learning: Conceptual Framework and Research Agenda

Agile software development methods are widespread in industry, and there is a wealth of academic research and practitioner publications currently available from this perspective. With the rise of Agile within companies worldwide, it is increasingly important for information systems education to keep up with this trend to ensure curriculum and courses are up-to-date. Students in the computing disciplines must be prepared to enter a job market where Agile is commonplace. As such, the topic of Agile in teaching and learning is critically important. The current special issue includes a rich collection of articles providing information systems educators with research-based, practical approaches for both teaching Agile (“the what”) and using Agile as a pedagogical approach (“the how”). In an effort to assist information systems educators categorize the growing amount of literature related to Agile in teaching and learning, a conceptual framework is provided which places the literature along the two axes of pedagogy (“the how”) and the content (“the what”) ranging from other, non-Agile to Agile. Finally, the authors present a call for future research integrating Agile on a meta-level in the course development process. We hope that this special issue inspires educators and researchers to consider integrating Agile into their teaching and learning

Plagiarism and Programming: A Survey of Student Attitudes

This paper examines student attitudes towards a number of behaviors which range from acceptable means of seeking help on assignments to unacceptable behaviors such as copying from another student or paying someone to complete an assignment. Attitudes regarding such behaviors are compared based on the type of assignment (programming assignment, written essay, math problems). Findings indicate that students do perceive that there are differences in the acceptability of behaviors depending on assignment type. Further, the study examines the effect of an education campaign designed to increase student awareness as to which behaviors are permitted. Results suggest that faculty efforts to clarify expectations do result in a change in student attitudes regarding the acceptability of certain behaviors

The role of social networks in students’ learning experiences

The aim of this research is to investigate the role of social networks in computer science education. The Internet shows great potential for enhancing collaboration between people and the role of social software has become increasingly relevant in recent years. This research focuses on analyzing the role that social networks play in students’ learning experiences. The construction of students’ social networks, the evolution of these networks, and their effects on the students’ learning experience in a university environment are examined

Eşli Programlamanın Ortaokul Öğrencilerinin Bilgisayar Programlama Özgüven ve Başarısına Etkisi

DergiPark: 575098tredBu araştırmada iç içegeçmiş durum çalışması yapılarak eşli programlamanın ortaokul öğrencilerininbilgisayar programlama özgüven ve başarısına etkisi araştırılmıştır.  Beşinci sınıf seviyesinde 35 öğrenci bireysel(n=13) ve eşli (n=22) programlama gruplarına ayrılmış, Scratch programlamaetkinlikleri kullanılarak sekiz haftalık bir uygulama yürütülmüştür.Araştırmada nitel veri görüşmelerle, nicel veri ise özgüven anketi verubriklerle toplanmıştır. Veri analizi için bağımsız örneklemler t testi ve içerik analizikullanılmıştır. Uygulama sonunda eşli programlama öğrencilerinin özgüven vebaşarısının, bireysel programlama öğrencilerinden daha yüksek olduğubulunmuştur. Bu çalışma, ortaokul seviyesinde bilgisayar programlama özgüvenive başarısını artırmak için eşli programlama yönteminin kullanımınıdesteklemekte, özellikle bilgisayar sayısı yetersiz olan okullara, rekabetçiöğrencilere ve programlamayı yeni öğrenenlere bu yöntemi önermektedir.The purpose ofthis embedded case study is to explore the possible influence of pairprogramming on secondary school students’ confidence and achievement incomputer programming. A total of 35 students in a fifth-grade class weredivided into individual (n=13) andpair programmers (n=22), who then usedScratch programming activities during an eight week implementation. Qualitativedata were collected with interviews and quantitative data were collected with aconfidence questionnaire and rubrics. Content analysis and independent-samples t tests were conducted for dataanalysis. The results showed that pair programmers’ confidence and achievementfor computer programming was higher compared to individual programmers afterthe implementation. The study supports the use of pair programming in secondaryschools, especially where there are limited numbers of computers, competitivestudents, and novice programmers to increase the confidence and achievement incomputer programming

Cooperation, Competition, and Risk Attitudes: An Intergenerational Field and Laboratory Experiment

The population of most developed societies is ‘graying'. As life expectancy increases and the large baby-boom generation approaches retirement age, this has critical consequences for maintaining a high standard of living and the sustainability of pension systems. In the light of these labor-force and social concerns, we consider experimentally the comparative behavior of juniors (under 30) and seniors (over 50) in both experiments conducted onsite with the employees of two large firms and in a conventional laboratory environment with students and retirees. Our results are compelling. First, seniors are not more risk-averse, as opposed to the conventional stereotype. Second, both juniors and seniors react to the competitiveness of the environment and there is no significant difference in performance in the real-effort task across the generations when they are competing. Third, seniors are typically more cooperative than juniors in a team-production game. Cooperation is highest in groups in which there is a mix of juniors and seniors, suggesting that there are indeed benefits in maintaining a work force with diversity in age. Overall, the implication is that it is beneficial to define additional short-term incentives near the end of the workers' career to motivate and to retain older workers. A secondary, but important, issue is the external validity of conventional laboratory experiments. In general we do not find strong differences in behavior between workers and non-workers, indicating that laboratory experiments may not be such a bad approximation for the field environment.age; performance; labor market; discrimination; diversity; stereotypes; experiments