Colleague supervision – “ignored and undervalued”? The views of students and supervisors in a new university

Colleague supervision is increasingly used in UK modern (post-92) universities to support the progress of academic staff to doctoral qualifications. Denicolo (2004) argues that it is a ‘role relationship that has been largely ignored or undervalued by administration’ (p. 693) and colleague students and supervisors ‘felt more vulnerable’ than other students/supervisors (p. 706). This small-scale research amongst students and staff in a colleague supervision relationship at a single UK modern university tests Denicolo’s (2004) propositions and those of Deuchar (2008) on supervision styles. It found that students did not feel ‘vulnerable’ but considered there were significant benefits from colleague supervision. They, and some supervisors, were also very supportive of group supervision methods that, alongside conventional individual supervision, gave strong support to the progress of colleague students to timely completion of their doctoral studies. As many UK modern universities are attempting to build research capacity through doctoral research training, the use of group supervision alongside colleague supervisors may offer benefits in a time when supervisory capacity has been stretched

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

Toward Predicting Success and Failure in CS2: A Mixed-Method Analysis

Factors driving success and failure in CS1 are the subject of much study but less so for CS2. This paper investigates the transition from CS1 to CS2 in search of leading indicators of success in CS2. Both CS1 and CS2 at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) are taught in Python with annual enrollments of 300 and 150 respectively. In this paper, we report on the following research questions: 1) Are CS1 grades indicators of CS2 grades? 2) Does a quantitative relationship exist between CS2 course grade and a modified version of the SCS1 concept inventory? 3) What are the most challenging aspects of CS2, and how well does CS1 prepare students for CS2 from the student's perspective? We provide a quantitative analysis of 2300 CS1 and CS2 course grades from 2013--2019. In Spring 2019, we administered a modified version of the SCS1 concept inventory to 44 students in the first week of CS2. Further, 69 students completed an exit questionnaire at the conclusion of CS2 to gain qualitative student feedback on their challenges in CS2 and on how well CS1 prepared them for CS2. We find that 56% of students' grades were lower in CS2 than CS1, 18% improved their grades, and 26% earned the same grade. Of the changes, 62% were within one grade point. We find a statistically significant correlation between the modified SCS1 score and CS2 grade points. Students identify linked lists and class/object concepts among the most challenging. Student feedback on CS2 challenges and the adequacy of their CS1 preparations identify possible avenues for improving the CS1-CS2 transition.Comment: The definitive Version of Record was published in 2020 ACM Southeast Conference (ACMSE 2020), April 2-4, 2020, Tampa, FL, USA. 8 page

A music context for teaching introductory computing

We describe myro.chuck, a Python module for controlling music synthesis, and its applications to teaching introductory computer science. The module was built within the Myro framework using the ChucK programming language, and was used in an introductory computer science course combining robots, graphics and music. The results supported the value of music in engaging students and broadening their view of computer science

Learning Dimensions: Lessons from Field Studies

In this paper, we describe work to investigate the creation of engaging programming learning experiences. Background research informed the design of four fieldwork studies involving a range of age groups to explore how programming tasks could best be framed to motivate learners. Our empirical findings from these four studies, described here, contributed to the design of a set of programming "Learning Dimensions" (LDs). The LDs provide educators with insights to support key design decisions for the creation of engaging programming learning experiences. This paper describes the background to the identification of these LDs and how they could address the design and delivery of highly engaging programming learning tasks. A web application has been authored to support educators in the application of the LDs to their lesson design

Putting skills to work - It’s not so much the what, or even the why, but how…

This paper focuses on how generic skills can be developed to enable young adults to best utilise them in making transitions into the labour market. Drawing on the literature and a Commercial Education Trust study of practices which encourage employer engagement in skills development, it is argued that ‘putting skills to work’ is not automatic or unproblematic. It is not simply a matter of ‘skills transfer’, but a ‘continuous, contextually-embedded and transformative process’ during which individuals, supported by partners, learn how to recontextualise skills to suit different activities and environments. It may be tempting to distil employability into a list of so-called ‘soft skills’, but context matters. It requires more than that which can be taught in Education. Support is needed in the workplace through mentoring, for example, to help recruits acquire knowledge of workplace culture, norms and practices, situational understanding, and apply metacognitive strategies for bringing together this knowledge and a range of different skills and personal attributes in productive application. Further research is needed to explore the inter-relationships between skills supply, demand and utilisation, including ways in which employers can better recognise young recruits’ skills and provide ‘expansive’ working environments that maximise their capabilities and potential for development