Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Workshop of the Psychology of Programming Interest Group

This is the Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Workshop of the Psychology of Programming Interest Group (PPIG). This was the first PPIG to be held physically since 2019, following the two online-only PPIGs in 2020 and 2021, both during the Covid pandemic. It was also the first PPIG conference to be designed specifically for hybrid attendance. Reflecting the theme, it was hosted by Music Computing Lab at the Open University in Milton Keynes

Observational Studies of the Learning Behaviour of Distance Education Students using an Asynchronous, Remote, Recording and Replay Tool

This thesis gives details of a series of studies that were designed to investigate how distance education students use courseware in their learning and how time, comfort and learning styles, should be taken into account when designing distance education courses. The online behaviour of groups of distance education students, who volunteered to take part, were observed using an asynchronous, remote recording and replay tool (AESOP) as they completed online practical exercises as part of the Open University course M206 Computing: An Object Oriented Approach. Web based questionnaires were used to determine data not obtainable from the recording software, including students’ levels of comfort with computing tasks and learning styles as measured by two well known questionnaires and another developed for the study. The profile of the times at which students study suggests the times at which they study are constrained by their personal circumstances. Time of day was not found to be a factor that affected academic performance or online behaviour. Students’ self expressed levels of comfort with computing tasks were found to be significantly related to academic performance. Significant relationships were also noted between students’ levels of preferences for the Activist and Dependent learning styles and academic performance. The Theorist, Collaborative and Visual styles were also found to be significantly related to the time students took to complete online practical work. A series of fine grained analyses looking at students' workspace arrangement, use of the notes page and sequence in which they used the course material, all raise further issues pertinent to the research and improvement in computer based instructional materials and distance education

Identification and Evaluation of Predictors for Learning Success and of Models for Teaching Computer Programming in Contemporary Contexts

Introductory undergraduate computer programming courses are renowned for higher than average failure and withdrawal rates when compared to other subject areas. The closer partnership between higher education and the rapidly expanding digital technology industry, as demonstrated by the establishment of new Degree Apprenticeships in computer science and digital technologies, requires efficient and effective means for teaching programming skills. This research, therefore, aimed to identify reliable predictors of success in learning programming or vulnerability to failure. The research also aimed to evaluate teaching methods and remedial interventions towards recommending a teaching model that supported and engaged learners in contemporary contexts that were relevant to the workplace. Investigation of qualifications designed to prepare students for undergraduate computer science courses revealed that A-level entrants achieved significantly higher programming grades than BTEC students. However, there was little difference between the grades of those with and those without previous qualifications in computing or ICT subjects. Analysis of engagement metrics revealed a strong correlation between extent of co-operation and programming grade, in contrast to a weak correlation between programming grade and code understanding. Further analysis of video recordings, interviews and observational records distinguished between the type of communication that helped peers comprehend tasks and concepts, and other forms of communication that were only concerned with completing tasks. Following the introduction of periodic assessment, essentially converting a single final assessment to three staged summative assessment points, it was found that failing students often pass only one of the three assignment parts. Furthermore, only 10% of those who failed overall had attempted all three assignments. Reasons for failure were attributed to ‘surface’ motivations (such as regulating efforts to achieve a minimum pass of 40%), ineffective working habits or stressful personal circumstances rather than any fundamental difficulty encountered with subject material. A key contribution to pedagogical practice made by this research is to propose an ‘incremental’ teaching model. This model is informed by educational theory and empirical evidence and comprises short cycles of three activities: presenting new topic information, tasking students with a relevant exercise and then demonstrating and discussing the exercise solution. The effectiveness of this model is evidenced by increased engagement, increased quiz scores at the end of each teaching session and increased retention of code knowledge at the end of the course

Natural Language Tutoring and the Novice Programmer

For beginning programmers, inadequate problem solving and planning skills are among the most salient of their weaknesses. Novices, by definition, lack much of the tacit knowledge that underlies effective programming. This dissertation examines the efficacy of natural language tutoring (NLT) to foster acquisition of this tacit knowledge. Coached Program Planning (CPP) is proposed as a solution to the problem of teaching the tacit knowledge of programming. The general aim is to cultivate the development of such knowledge by eliciting and scaffolding the problem solving and planning activities that novices are known to underestimate or bypass altogether. ProPL (pro-PELL), a dialogue-based intelligent tutoring system based on CPP, is also described. In an evaluation, the primary findings were that students who received tutoring from ProPL seemed to exhibit an improved ability compose plans and displayed behaviors suggestive of thinking at greater levels of abstraction than students in a read-only control group. The major finding is that NLT appears to be effective in teaching program composition skills

Motivational and metacognitive feedback in an ITS: linking past states and experiences to current problems

Feedback is an important element in learning as it can provide learners with both information about progress as well as external motivational stimuli, providing them with an opportunity for reflection. Motivation and metacognition are strongly intertwined, with learners high in self-efficacy more likely to use a variety of self-regulatory learning strategies, as well as to persist longer on challenging tasks. Learning from past experience involves metacognitive processes as an act of reflecting upon one’s own experience and, coupled with existing knowledge, aids the acquisition and construction of further knowledge. The aim of the research was to improve the learner’s focus on the process and experience of problem solving while using an Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS), by addressing the primary question: what are the effects of including motivational and metacognitive feedback based on the learner’s past states and experiences? An existing ITS, SQL-Tutor, was used in a study with participants from first year undergraduate degrees studying a database module. The study used two versions of SQL-Tutor: the Control group used a base version providing domain feedback and the Study group used an extended version that also provided motivational and metacognitive feedback. Three sources of data collection were used: module summative assessments, ITS log files and a post-study questionnaire. The analysis included both pre-post comparisons and how the participants interacted with the system, for example their persistence in problem-solving and the degree to which they referred to past learning. Comparisons between groups showed some differing trends both in learning and behaviour in favour of the Study group, though these trends were not significantly different. The study findings showed promise for the use of motivational and metacognitive feedback based on the learners’ past states and experiences that could be used as a basis for future research work and refinement

Modelling evolving clinical practice guidelines: a case of Malawi

Electronic medical record (EMR) systems are increasingly being adopted in low- and middle-income countries. This provides an opportunity to support task-shifted health workers with guideline-based clinical decision support to improve the quality of healthcare delivery. However, the formalization of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) into computer-interpretable guidelines (CIGs) for clinical decision support in such a setting is a very challenging task due to the evolving nature of CPGs and limited healthcare budgets. This study proposed that a CIG modelling language that considers CPG change requirements in their representation models could enable semi-automated support of CPG change operations thereby reducing the burden of maintaining CIGs. Characteristics of CPG changes were investigated to elucidate CPG change requirements using CPG documents from Malawi where EMR systems are routinely used. Thereafter, a model-driven engineering approach was taken to design a CIG modelling framework that has a novel domain-specific modelling language called FCIG for the modelling of evolving CIGs. The CIG modelling framework was implemented using the Xtext framework. The national antiretroviral therapy EMR system for Malawi was extended into a prototype with FCIG support for experimentation. Further studies were conducted with CIG modellers. The evaluations were conducted to answer the following research questions: i) What are the CPG change requirements for modelling an evolving CIG? ii) Can a model-driven engineering approach adequately support the modelling of an evolving CIG? iii) What is the effect of modelling an evolving CIG using FCIG in comparison with the Health Level Seven (HL7) standard for modelling CIGs? Data was collected using questionnaires, logs and observations. The results indicated that finegrained components of a CPG are affected by CPG changes and that those components are not included explicitly in current executable CIG language models. The results also showed that by including explicit semantics for elements that are affected by CPG changes in a language model, smart-editing features for supporting CPG change operations can be enabled in a language-aware code editor. The results further showed that both experienced and CIG modellers perceived FCIG as highly usable. Furthermore, the results suggested that FCIG performs significantly better at CIG modelling tasks as compared to the HL7 standard, Arden Syntax. This study provides empirical evidence that a model-driven engineering approach to clinical guideline formalization supports the authoring and maintenance of evolving CIGs to provide up-to-date clinical decision support in low- and middle-income countries

Re-designing Design and Technology Education: A living literature review of stakeholder perspectives

Created following the amalgamation of several individual subject disciplines, in England, design and technology is in decline. Debates about its purpose and position have taken place since its inception but arguably these have not transferred into a rigorous research base. There is a growing body of scholars exploring the field, but with the decline of the subject, so the community working and investigating it is also diminished. Without a strong foundation, the actions of the few may not carry sufficient weight to generate full and meaningful debate that would influence those with the power to change policy on curriculum and lead to innovation. If we are to have any hope of reversing the subject’s deterioration, we must do something bold and significant. While an awareness of the subject’s history and its evolution is integral to our understanding of how and why we are where we are, merely reflecting on the past will do little to help the subject move forward. Hence, the principal aim of our research is to explore what a re-designed design and technology could look like. To achieve this, this study draws on different stakeholders’ visions of how they perceive the subject’s future