Reinventing CS50

Computer Science 50 is Harvard College’s introductory course for majors and non-majors alike, enrollment in which both rose and fell along with the dotcoms. Although enrollment peaked in 1996 at 386 students, it had settled by 2002 in the neighborhood of 100. We set out in 2007 to combat that trend by tackling two problems. We hypothesized that CS50 suffered from two, one of perception and one of design. Although, per end-of-term surveys, the course had never lacked for good teachers or good content, the consensus on campus for years had been to beware this particular course. And the course’s own syllabus may very well have been dated in the eyes of students who had begun to carry regularly modern hardware and software in their backpacks and pockets. Not only did we proceed to revamp every one of CS50’s problem sets, we brought its syllabus more in line with technological trends already familiar to students. And we altered the tone of the course to appeal to those “less comfortable” with computing on campus. But we took care to preserve the course’s rigor and underlying fundamentals, lest we do our own students a disservice. Our new approach appears to be working. Between 2006 and 2007, enrollment in CS50 more than doubled from 132 to 282 (+114%). Between 2007 and 2008, enrollment increased another 17% to 330, though even more striking was that year’s 48% increase in female enrollment. By 2009, enrollment remained strong at 338. We present in this work what we have done and why we have done it.Engineering and Applied Science

A review into the factors affecting declines in undergraduate Computer Science enrolments and approaches for solving this problem

There has been a noticeable drop in enrolments in Computer Science (CS) courses and interest in CS careers in recent years while demand for CS skills is increasing dramatically. Not only are such skills useful for CS jobs but for all forms of business and to some extent personal lives as Information Technology (IT) is becoming ubiquitous and essential for most aspects of modern life. Therefore it is essential to address this lack of interest and skills to not only fill the demand for CS employees but to provide students with the CS skills they need for modern life especially for improving their employability and skills for further study. This report looks at possible reasons for the lack of interest in CS and different approaches used to enhance CS education and improve the appeal of CS

Games for and by Teachers and Learners

With the advent of social media it is widely accepted that teachers and learners are not only consumers but also may have an active role in contributing and co-creating lesson materials and content. Paradoxically one strand of technology enhanced learning, i.e. game-based learning, aligns only slightly to this development. Games while there to experience, explore and collaborate are almost exclusively designed by professionals. Despite, or maybe because, games are the exclusive domain of professional developers, the general impression is that games require complex technologies and that games are difficult to organise and to embed in a curriculum. This chapter will make a case that games are not necessarily the exclusive domain of game professionals. Rather than enforcing teachers to get acquainted with and use complex, technically demanding games, we will discuss approaches that teachers themselves can use to build games, make use of existing games and even one step beyond use tools or games that can be used by learners to create their own designs, e.g. games or virtual worlds

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

Computing in Education: A study of computing in education and ways to enhance students’ perceptions and understanding of computing

There is a huge demand for computing skills in industry due to computing becoming ubiquitous and essential for modern life. Yet despite this, industry struggles to find employees with suitable computing skills and similarly Further and Higher Education institutions have observed a lack of interest in their computing courses in recent years. This study looks at possible reasons for this lack of interest in computing, how computing is taught in education and ways to improve students’ perceptions and understanding of computing. It focuses around a case study of a university outreach event for secondary schools which investigated how interactive teaching methods can be used to enhance students’ perceptions and understanding of computing and to increase their computing knowledge. It includes the use of physical computing and was designed to make computing fun, motivational and relevant, and to provide examples of real-world applications. Surveys were used before and after the event to understand what students’ impressions and knowledge of computing is and to see if the event improved these. Observations were also used to see how well the students handled the event’s content and whether they appeared to enjoy and understand it. Results from the case study indicate that interactive teaching methods enhance computing education, and physical computing with electronics can enhance lessons and show the relevance of computing with examples of real-world applications, and can be fun and motivational. The case study provides teachers with example tasks and challenges they can use with their students and/or ideas around other interactive teaching methods including practical computing

Online education system for software development

Mestrado em Sistemas de InformaçãoA tecnologia teve um papel fundamental na evolução dos processos de ensino, nomeadamente o uso de formatos multimédia que permitem aperfeiçoar a exposição de conteúdo e a troca de informação como resultado deu-se a proliferação de alguns sistemas de E-Learning. A adoção destes sistemas de E-Learning surgem de necessidades ou preocupações, como por exemplo, ensino à distância, partilha de documentos, métodos de avaliação autónoma entre outras funcionalidades, das quais foram parcialmente resolvidas com o uso da Internet e de outras tecnologias. Atualmente, sistemas de referência, como o caso do MOODLE, não se focalizam numa área especifica da educação e as ferramentas que disponibilizam permitem mitigar as necessidades anteriormente mencionadas. Mas em áreas com necessidades mais especificas como é o exemplo da informática, mais precisamente o ensino de competências de programação, estas funcionalidades são um suporte limitado aos docentes que as usam. Recentemente, têm sido feito esforços, como por exemplo, o desenvolvimento de plataformas para competições de programação ou sistemas autónomos de avaliação de código. Nesta dissertação propõe-se uma nova solução para o ensino de programação desenvolvida em tecnologias web. A solução está dividida em duas partes, um formato interativo para a transmissão de conhecimento teórico-prático e um ambiente partilhado para o desenvolvimento de trabalhos de grupo.Technology was essential to the evolution of learning methods more precisely the use of multimedia formats which allow the improvement of content exposure and the exchange of information as a result some of the E-Learning systems proliferated. The adoption of these E-Learning systems arise from needs or concerns, such as distance learning, sharing documents, autonomous evaluation among other functionalities and were solved with the Internet and other technologies. Nowadays, some acknowledged systems, such as MOODLE, do not focus on a specific area of education and his tools mitigate the needs mention above. But in areas with specific needs such as computer science, like teaching programming skills, these features are offer a limited support to teachers who use them. Recently, efforts have been made to develop platforms for programming competitions or autonomous evaluation systems. On this dissertation a new solution is proposed to be used to teach programming and is being developed based on Web technologies. This solution is made into two parts, the first is a new format to display interactive content and the second is a shared environment for group work

Exploring student perceptions about the use of visual programming environments, their relation to student learning styles and their impact on student motivation in undergraduate introductory programming modules

My research aims to explore how students perceive the usability and enjoyment of visual/block-based programming environments (VPEs), to what extent their learning styles relate to these perceptions and finally to what extent these tools facilitate student understanding of basic programming constructs and impact their motivation to learn programming

Learning by Game Design for Library Instruction: A Multiple Case Study

Despite the importance placed on information literacy in fostering lifelong learning, helping students develop the skills required of critical thinkers and independent learners are limited. This study contributes to the burgeoning discourse on alternative instructional approaches to teaching information literacy and focuses on the use of game design in learning environments. The appeal of gaming among the younger generation of learners has led to the increasing use of games in learning environments. Within recent years, some innovative academic libraries have begun adopting games as a platform for information literacy instruction. While the literature recognizes game design as fostering higher-level learning in educational contexts, it is not commonly adopted in the classroom. Typically, there is a preference among instructors to have students play games. Therefore, a more thorough understanding on the ways game design best facilitate learning is needed to assist towards its more frequent adoption. This study focuses on the use of game design within library spaces. The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of undergraduate students learning by game design in information literacy classes. The overarching research question looks at how an instructor can incorporate motivational theories into an information literacy class through learning by game design and how students engage with the content and each other in this environment. More specific supporting questions address: How can an instructor incorporate motivational theories into an information literacy class through “learning by game design”? How does the “learning by game design” approach within information literacy classes foster the sharing of knowledge among undergraduate students? How do undergraduate students represent information literacy concepts in the game-based artifacts they design? What were undergraduate students’ motivations to use information literacy practices they were exposed to throughout their class experiences? Applying a descriptive multi-site case study methodology, this study draws upon the theories of social constructivism, experiential learning, and motivation to explore the phenomenon of learning by game design in information literacy classes. Data was collected from two sites using various methods to provide a comprehensive view of the phenomenon. Data sources included: student\u27s artifacts, submitted class assessment materials, recorded observation, participant observation, items from the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) and interviews. Analysis was done by drawing meanings across the multiple instances of data. Findings from this study show that learning by game design is a viable option for teaching information literacy classes, when effectively scaffolded into the classroom. Students were able to draw upon a higher order of cognition and described situated instances where information literacy skills were applied, such as use in complex assignments and real world situations

(Des)Ligad@s : adaptação de atividades desligadas ao ensino remoto de emergência em tempos de pandemia

Relatório da Prática de Ensino Supervisionada, Mestrado em Ensino de Informática, Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Educação, 2021Neste relatório descreve-se a intervenção pedagógica realizada na Escola Secundária de São João da Talha, na disciplina de Programação e Sistemas de Informação do curso profissional de Técnico de Gestão e Programação de Sistemas Informáticos, realizada no 3.º período do ano letivo 2019/20. Descrevem-se a planificação, a calendarização e a intervenção realizadas sobre a primeira metade do módulo de Estruturas de Dados Estáticas. Relatam-se também as adaptações que foram necessárias para o Ensino Remoto de Emergência em resposta ao confinamento imposto pela pandemia de COVID-19. Apresenta-se a investigação do impacto das estratégias utilizadas no desenvolvimento do pensamento computacional dos alunos. Em vez de se medir a aprendizagem apenas pela análise do código desenvolvido, utilizam-se exercícios desligados para minimizar o uso de linguagens artificiais que dificultam a expressão do conhecimento dos alunos. Devido à pandemia foi necessário “ligar” estas atividades, ou seja, encontrar formas de as realizar através do computador e a distância, mas sem perder as vantagens deste tipo de atividade. Foram, por isso, abordadas as seguintes questões de investigação: Q1: Qual o impacto do uso de atividades desligadas na compreensão conceptual de algoritmos criptográficos? Q2: Qual o impacto do uso de atividades desligadas na compreensão conceptual de algoritmos de pesquisa e ordenação de listas? Q3: Como é que a representação pictórica do funcionamento de um programa em memória melhora a compreensão dos algoritmos de pesquisa e ordenação de listas? Q4: Quais as adaptações necessárias para que uma atividade desligada se possa realizar a distância? A avaliação foi pouco conclusiva uma vez que a turma era pequena e a participação a distância foi pobre. Conclui-se o relatório com uma reflexão sobre o que foi alcançado, as opções tomadas e as alternativas. Aborda-se também trabalho de investigação futuro que aprofunde os métodos e as estratégias propostos.This report presents the pedagogical work developed at the São João da Talha High School for the Programming and Information Systems course, of the Management and Information Systems Technician training program, performed in the 3rd period of the 2019/20 school year. We describe the planning, scheduling and details of the intervention centred around the first half of the Static Data Structures module of the course. We also report on the adaptations made for the Emergency Remote Teaching in response to the lock-down imposed by COVID-19. We present the research on the impact of the strategies used in the development of the computational thinking of the students. Instead of measuring the learning only just by analysing the developed source code, we use unplugged activities, to minimize the difficulties that arise from the use of artificial languages in the expression of the knowledge of the students. Because of the pandemic it was necessary to “plug” the unplugged activities, i.e., find ways to perform the activities remotely through the computer, but without losing the advantages of this kind of activity. We address the following research questions: Q1: What is the impact of unplugged activities in the conceptual understanding of cryptographic algorithms? Q2: What is the impact of the use of unplugged activities on the conceptual understanding of array search and sort algorithms? Q3: How does the graphical representation of a working program in memory improve the understanding of the array search and sort algorithms? Q4: What were the adaptations required to make unplugged activities work remotely? The evaluation was not conclusive because of the small class size and the poor remote participation. The document concludes with a discussion of what was achieved, the choices made, the considered alternatives, and the conclusions about future research work to further explore the proposed methods and strategies