Brug af interaktive klodser i ingeniørundervisningen

Interaktive klodser er digitale manipulativer som indgår i kropslig interaktion med brugere.De kan fx anvendes i matematikundervisning i indskolingen og som programmeringsplatformfor ingeniørstuderende.I denne artikel bliver der gjort rede for forskelligheder og potentialer vedinteraktive klodser i forhold til avancerede grafiske interfaces. Hvad sker der når interaktive klodserog grafiske brugerinterfaces smelter sammen, og hvilke pædagogiske kvaliteter indeholder disse hybrideenheder? Der præsenteres et eksempel hvor ingeniørstuderende anvender interaktive klodsermed skærme til udvikling af digitalt legetøj til børn. Nogle af de særlige hybride kvaliteter vedrørermulighederne for en rigere fysisk og symbolsk interaktion, fortælling, kollaboration, design i praksisog brugerinddragelse. Interactive blocks are digital tangible manipulatives, which provide a physical form of interaction.They can be used in mathematics teaching at primary school level. In this article, we explore differencesand potentials of interactive blocks compared to advanced graphical interfaces. What happenswhen interactive blocks and graphical user interfaces blend into a hybrid, and how can this enrichlearning processes? We present an example where engineering students use interactive blocks containingdisplays when developing digital toys for children. Some of the specific hybrid characteristicsare the possibility of a richer physical and symbolic interaction, storytelling, collaboration, designin practice, and user involvement

Brug af interaktive klodser i ingeniørundervisningen

Interaktive klodser er digitale manipulativer som indgår i kropslig interaktion med brugere.De kan fx anvendes i matematikundervisning i indskolingen og som programmeringsplatformfor ingeniørstuderende.I denne artikel bliver der gjort rede for forskelligheder og potentialer vedinteraktive klodser i forhold til avancerede grafiske interfaces. Hvad sker der når interaktive klodserog grafiske brugerinterfaces smelter sammen, og hvilke pædagogiske kvaliteter indeholder disse hybrideenheder? Der præsenteres et eksempel hvor ingeniørstuderende anvender interaktive klodsermed skærme til udvikling af digitalt legetøj til børn. Nogle af de særlige hybride kvaliteter vedrørermulighederne for en rigere fysisk og symbolsk interaktion, fortælling, kollaboration, design i praksisog brugerinddragelse. Interactive blocks are digital tangible manipulatives, which provide a physical form of interaction.They can be used in mathematics teaching at primary school level. In this article, we explore differencesand potentials of interactive blocks compared to advanced graphical interfaces. What happenswhen interactive blocks and graphical user interfaces blend into a hybrid, and how can this enrichlearning processes? We present an example where engineering students use interactive blocks containingdisplays when developing digital toys for children. Some of the specific hybrid characteristicsare the possibility of a richer physical and symbolic interaction, storytelling, collaboration, designin practice, and user involvement

Heuristic Evaluation for Novice Programming Systems

The past few years has seen a proliferation of novice programming tools. The availability of a large number of systems has made it difficult for many users to choose among them. Even for education researchers, comparing the relative quality of these tools, or judging their respective suitability for a given context, is hard in many instances. For designers of such systems, assessing the respective quality of competing design decisions can be equally difficult. Heuristic evaluation provides a practical method of assessing the quality of alternatives in these situations and of identifying potential problems with existing systems for a given target group or context. Existing sets of heuristics, however, are not specific to the domain of novice programming and thus do not evaluate all aspects of interest to us in this specialised application domain. In this article, we propose a set of heuristics to be used in heuristic evaluations of novice programming systems. These heuristics have the potential to allow a useful assessment of the quality of a given system with lower cost than full formal user studies and greater precision than the use of existing sets of heuristics. The heuristics are described and discussed in detail. We present an evaluation of the effectiveness of the heuristics that suggests that the new set of heuristics provides additional useful information to designers not obtained with existing heuristics sets

public class Graphic_Design implements Code { // Yes, but how? }: An investigation towards bespoke Creative Coding programming courses in graphic design education

Situated in the intersection of graphic design, computer science, and pedagogy, this dissertation investigates how programming is taught within graphic design education. The research adds to the understanding of the process, practice, and challenges associated with introducing an audience of visually inclined practitioners—who are often guided by instinct—to the formal and unforgiving world of syntax, algorithms, and logic. Motivating the research is a personal desire to contribute towards the development of bespoke contextualized syllabi specifically designed to accommodate how graphic designers learn, understand, and use programming as an integral skill in their vocational practice.The initial literature review identifies a gap needing to be filled to increase both practical and theoretical knowledge within the interdisciplinary field of computational graphic design. This gap concerns a lack of solid, empirically based epistemological frameworks for teaching programming to non-programmers in a visual context, partly caused by a dichotomy in traditional pedagogical practices associated with teaching programming and graphic design, respectively. Based on this gap, the overarching research question posed in this dissertation is: “How should programming ideally be taught to graphic designers to account for how they learn and how they intend to integrate programming into their vocational practice?”A mixed methods approach using both quantitative and qualitative analyses is taken to answer the research questions. The three papers comprising the dissertation are all built on individual hypotheses that are subsequently used to define three specific research questions.Paper 1 performs a quantitative mapping of contemporary, introductory programming courses taught in design schools to establish a broader understanding of their structure and content. The paper concludes that most courses are planned to favor programming concepts rather than graphic design concepts. The paper’s finding can serve as a point of departure for a critical discussion among researchers and educators regarding the integration of programming in graphic design education.Paper 2 quantitatively assesses how the learning style profile of graphic design students compares with that of students in technical disciplines. The paper identifies a number of significant differences that call for a variety of pedagogic and didactic strategies to be employed by educators to effectively teach programming to graphic designers. Based on the results, specific recommendations are given.Paper 3 proposes a hands-on, experiential pedagogic method specifically designed to introduce graphic design students to programming. The method relies on pre-existing commercial graphic design specimens to contextualize programming into a domain familiar to graphic designers. The method was tested on the target audience and observations on its use are reported. Qualitative evaluation of student feedback suggests the method is effective and well-received. Additionally, twenty-four heuristics that elaborate and extend the paper’s findings by interweaving other relevant and influential sources encountered during the research project are provided. Together, the literature review, the three papers, and the heuristics provide comprehensive and valuable theoretical and practical insights to both researchers and educators, regarding key aspects related to introducing programming as a creative practice in graphic design education

Teaching and learning introductory programming : a model-based approach

The dissertation identifies and discusses impact of a model-based approach to teaching and learning introductory object-oriented programming both for practitioners and for computer science education research.Learning to program is notoriously difficult. This dissertation investigates ways to teach introductory object-oriented programming at the university level. It focuses on a model-based approach, describes and argues for this approach and investigates several of its aspects. It gives an overview of the research in teaching introductory programming in an objects-first way. The dissertation also investigates ways for university teachers to share and document best practices in teaching introductory object-oriented programming through pedagogical patterns. The dissertation addresses both traditional young full-time students and experienced programmers (although not in object-orientation) participating in part-time education. It examines whether the same success factors for learning programming apply to a model-based approach as to introductory programming courses in general for full-time students and gives a general overview of research in success factors for introductory programming. Some factors are the same, because students‘ math competence is positively correlated with their success. The dissertation examines how experienced programmers link a model-based programming course to their professional practices. The general answer is that the part-time students do not need to have a direct link to their specific work-practice, they expect to create the link themselves; but the teacher must be aware of the conditions facing the part-time students in industry. Furthermore, the dissertation addresses interaction patterns for part-time students learning model-based introductory programming in a net-based environment. A previously prepared solution to an exercise is found to mediate the interaction in three different ways. Design patterns have had a major impact on the quality of object-oriented software. Inspired by this, researchers have suggested pedagogical patterns for sharing best practices in teaching introductory object-oriented programming. It was expected that university teachers‘ knowledge of pedagogical patterns was limited, but this research proved that to be wrong; about half of the teachers know pedagogical patterns. One of the problems this dissertation identifies is the lack of a structuring principle for pedagogical patterns; potential users have problems identifying the correct patterns to apply. An alternative structuring principle based on a constructivist learning theory is suggested and analysed