Supporting Introductory Test-Driven Labs with WebIDE

WebIDE is a new web-based development environment for entry-level programmers with two primary goals: minimize tool barriers to writing computer programs and introduce software engineering best practices early in a student\u27s educational career. Currently, WebIDE focuses on Test-Driven Learning (TDL) by using small iterative examples and introducing lock-step labs, which prevent the student from moving forward until they finish the current step. However, WebIDE does not require that labs follow TDL. Instructors can write their own labs for WebIDE using any software engineering or pedagogical approach. Likewise, instructors can build custom evaluators - written in any language - to support their approach and provide detailed error messages to students. We report on a pilot study in a CS0 course where students were split into two groups, one that used WebIDE and one that didn\u27t. The WebIDE group showed a significant improvement in performance when writing a simple Android application. Additionally, among students with some programming experience, the WebIDE group was more proficient in writing unit tests

Enhanced JavaScript learning using code quality tools and a rule-based system in the FLIP Exploratory Learning Environment

The ‘FLIP Learning’ (Flexible, Intelligent and Personalised Learning) is an Exploratory Learning Environment (ELE) for teaching elementary programming to beginners using JavaScript. This paper presents the subsystem that is used to generate individualised real-time support to students depending on their initial misconceptions. The subsystem is intended to be used primarily in the early stages of student engagement in order to help them overcome the constraints of their Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) with minimal assistance from teachers

The effectiveness of integrating educational robotic activities into higher education Computer Science curricula: a case study in a developing country

In this paper, we present a case study to investigate the effects of educational robotics on a formal undergraduate Computer Science education in a developing country. The key contributions of this paper include a longitudinal study design, spanning the whole duration of one taught course, and its focus on continually assessing the effectiveness and the impact of robotic-based exercises. The study assessed the students' motivation, engagement and level of understanding in learning general computer programming. The survey results indicate that there are benefits which can be gained from such activities and educational robotics is a promising tool in developing engaging study curricula. We hope that our experience from this study together with the free materials and data available for download will be beneficial to other practitioners working with educational robotics in different parts of the world

An evaluation of interactive test-driven labs with webIDE in CS0

WebIDE is a framework that enables instructors to develop and deliver online lab content with interactive feedback. The ability to create lock-step labs enables the instructor to guide students through learning experiences, demonstrating mastery as they proceed. Feedback is provided through automated evaluators that vary from simple regular expression evaluation to syntactic parsers to applications that compile and run programs and unit tests. This paper describes WebIDE and its use in a CS0 course that taught introductory Java and Android programming using a test-driven learning approach. We report results from a controlled experiment that compared the use of dynamic WebIDE labs with more traditional static programming labs. Despite weaker performance on pre-study assessments, students who used WebIDE performed two to twelve percent better on all assessments than the students who used traditional labs. In addition, WebIDE students were consistently more positive about their experience in CS0

Teaching Object-Oriented Software Engineering through Problem-Based Learning in the Context of Game Design

We performed resistance measurements on Fe1+δ-xCuxTe with xEDX ≤ 0.06 in the presence of in-plane applied magnetic fields, revealing a resistance anisotropy that can be induced at a temperature far below the structural and magnetic zero-field transition temperatures. The observed resistance anisotropy strongly depends on the field orientation with respect to the crystallographic axes, as well as on the field-cooling history. Our results imply a correlation between the observed features and the low-temperature magnetic order. Hysteresis in the angle-dependence indicates a strong pinning of the magnetic order within a temperature range that varies with the Cu content. The resistance anisotropy vanishes at different temperatures depending on whether an external magnetic field or a remnant field is present: the closing temperature is higher in the presence of an external field. For xEDX = 0.06 the resistance anisotropy closes above the structural transition, at the same temperature at which the zerofield short-range magnetic order disappears and the sample becomes paramagnetic. Thus we suggest that under an external magnetic field the resistance anisotropy mirrors the magnetic order parameter. We discuss similarities to nematic order observed in other iron pnictide materials

Propuesta de protocolo de análisis de dispositivos de enseñanza de programación

En los cursos iniciales de programación en el nivel universitario, uno de los vectores de análisis de la deserción lo constituye las debilidades de los dispositivos de enseñanza utilizados. En una investigación exploratoria se detectaron diferencias de criterios sobre la estructuración de los contenidos de los cursos analizados. En este trabajo se presenta un protocolo estructurado en tres ejes: contenidos, didáctica, y herramientas, para el análisis de un curso introductorio del área de programación. Se presenta una prueba de concepto que permite validar la utilidad del protocolo propuesto.Área: Tecnología en Educación.Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Propuesta de protocolo de análisis de dispositivos de enseñanza de programación

En los cursos iniciales de programación en el nivel universitario, uno de los vectores de análisis de la deserción lo constituye las debilidades de los dispositivos de enseñanza utilizados. En una investigación exploratoria se detectaron diferencias de criterios sobre la estructuración de los contenidos de los cursos analizados. En este trabajo se presenta un protocolo estructurado en tres ejes: contenidos, didáctica, y herramientas, para el análisis de un curso introductorio del área de programación. Se presenta una prueba de concepto que permite validar la utilidad del protocolo propuesto.Área: Tecnología en Educación.Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Propuesta de protocolo de análisis de dispositivos de enseñanza de programación

En los cursos iniciales de programación en el nivel universitario, uno de los vectores de análisis de la deserción lo constituye las debilidades de los dispositivos de enseñanza utilizados. En una investigación exploratoria se detectaron diferencias de criterios sobre la estructuración de los contenidos de los cursos analizados. En este trabajo se presenta un protocolo estructurado en tres ejes: contenidos, didáctica, y herramientas, para el análisis de un curso introductorio del área de programación. Se presenta una prueba de concepto que permite validar la utilidad del protocolo propuesto.Área: Tecnología en Educación.Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Enfoques y herramientas en la enseñanza de un primer curso de computación (CS1)

Se presenta un análisis del enfoque clásico de los cursos CS1 (básicamente cursos introductorios de expresión de algoritmos e iniciación a la programación) y algunas herramientas utilizadas en su desarrollo. En particular se discuten diferentes experiencias universitarias, analizando las ventajas del uso de herramientas visuales. Por último se hace un breve análisis crítico de Visual Da Vinci (VDV), un ambiente desarrollado en la UNLP que se ha utilizado sistemáticamente durante los últimos 10 años en los cursos pre-universitarios y en las primeras etapas del curso de Algorítmica y Programación de varias Universidades del país. En las conclusiones se marca la evolución y objetivos futuros para VDV, según el grupo de I/D de las Universidades de La Plata y Patagonia San Juan Bosco que trabajan en el tema.Eje: Informática educativa (IEDU)Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI