Novice Learner Experiences in Software Development: A Study of Freshman Undergraduates

This paper presents a study that is part of a larger research project aimed at addressing the gap in the provision of educational software development processes for freshman, novice undergraduate learners, to improve proficiency levels. With the aim of understanding how such learners problem solve in software development in the absence of a formal process, this case study examines the experiences and depth of learning acquired by a sample set of novice undergraduates. A novel adaption of the Kirkpatrick framework known as AKM-SOLO is used to frame the evaluation. The study finds that without the scaffolding of an appropriate structured development process tailored to novices, students are in danger of failing to engage with the problem solving skills necessary for software development, particularly the skill of designing solutions prior to coding. It also finds that this lack of engagement directly impacts their affective state on the course and continues to negatively impact their proficiency and affective state in the second year of their studies leading to just under half of students surveyed being unsure if they wish to pursue a career in software development when they graduate

Learning educational research methods through collaborative research: The PhICER initiative

To accommodate an increasing interest in phenomenography among the computing education research community, the authors of this paper have organised two workshops, or intensive courses, in phenomenography, intended for researchers in computing education at a university level. Although the workshop programs contained lectures and smaller exercises, the emphasis was on preparing one joint publication from each of the workshops. The publication from the first workshop discussed the experience of being a teacher in computing, while the second focused on teachers' experiences of the problems their students encounter when learning computing. The workshops and their impact on the community are discussed in this paper. © 2008, Australian Computer Society, Inc

Report on the final BRACElet workshop: Auckland University of Technology, September 2010

This paper reports on the thirteenth and final BRACElet workshop. In this paper we provide a brief retrospective review of the workshops and the findings that have resulted from this multi-institutional multinational investigation into the teaching and learning of novice programmers. Subsequently we report on the work undertaken during the final workshop and then discuss future avenues for research that have evolved as a result of the BRACElet project

Report on the Final BRACElet Workshop: Auckland University of Technology, September 2010

This paper reports on the thirteenth and final BRACElet workshop. In this paper we provide a brief retrospective review of the workshops and the findings that have resulted from this multi-institutional multinational investigation into the teaching and learning of novice programmers. Subsequently we report on the work undertaken during the final workshop and then discuss future avenues for research that have evolved as a result of the BRACElet project