A multinational, multi-institutional study of assessment of programming skills of first-year CS students

In computer science, an expected outcome of a student's education is programming skill. This working group investigated the programming competency students have as they complete their first one or two courses in computer science. In order to explore options for assessing students, the working group developed a trial assessment of whether students can program. The underlying goal of this work was to initiate dialog in the Computer Science community on how to develop these types of assessments. Several universities participated in our trial assessment and the disappointing results suggest that many students do not know how to program at the conclusion of their introductory courses. For a combined sample of 216 students from four universities, the average score was 22.89 out of 110 points on the general evaluation criteria developed for this study. From this trial assessment we developed a framework of expectations for first-year courses and suggestions for further work to develop more comprehensive assessments

Investigation into the personal epistemology of computer science students.

In this paper, we investigate the personal epistemology of computing students, that is, their conceptions of knowledge and learning. We review some models of personal epistemological development and describe one of the questionnaire tools that have been used to assess the epistemological beliefs of students studying in other disciplines. We describe an experiment that uses one of these tools, together with exploratory factor analysis, to determine the dimensions of epistemological beliefs of a cohort of computing students and compare the results with that reported in other contexts. The results, while not reproducing the details of previous work, do seem to suggest that there are indeed multiple dimensions to personal epistemology, and that these can be identified, to a large extent, with those recognised by other researchers. Finally, we make some observations about the importance of personal epistemology for learning in Computer Science and outline further work in this area

Contemplations on results from investigating the personal epistemology of computing students.

'Personal Epistemology' is the analysis of the ways in which an individual perceives what constitutes knowledge, its boundaries, how it is justified, and how it is related to learning. While investigation of metacognitive strategies used by students is now an established research topic within Computer Science and Information Technology education, the study of personal epistemology is relatively undeveloped. This is so despite there being significant epistemological issues associated with learning the subject itself, such as those concerned with the way in which programming exercises change from convergent to divergent problems, or the process by which software project management problems very quickly become ill-defined. In this paper, we describe a preliminary investigation into the personal epistemology of two cohorts of computing students. We review some models of personal epistemological development and describe an empirical study in which we investigated the dimensions of epistemological beliefs of two cohorts of computing students. The results show that there appears to be a wide range of epistemological belief amongst computing students. Finally, we make some observations about the importance of personal epistemology for learning in Computer Science and outline further work in this area

Categorizing how students use collaborative technologies in a globally distributed project.

Possibilities for collaboration in globally distributed projects have radically changed with the introduction of new Collaborative Technologies (CTs) in the Web 2.0 era. The use of such technologies in the context of students collaborating in a globally distributed project is little explored in research. A better understanding would provide opportunities for improving the collaboration, and more importantly is that a better understanding would improve the possibility of scaffolding, and student learning in general. In this paper we present results from a study of students' use of CTs in a globally distributed project with a focus on the challenges encountered in trying to collaborate using this technology. The study is focused on a few aspects of how a combination of CTs could be utilized and issues associated with their set up and adaption for use. We discuss potential reasons for the observed patterns of technology use and how they influenced the collaboration environment around a globally distributed student project

Student reflections on collaborative technology in a globally distributed student project.

Collaborative Technology (CT) plays an important role in overcoming the challenges of globally distributed projects. It enables collaboration, but the specific choice of technology also imposes constraints on how projects are conducted. Over the past decade, we have engaged in an action research programme to develop an Open-Ended Group Project situated in an educational framework in which international collaboration, including interaction with a real world client, is an essential component. This paper investigates the manner in which students reflected on their patterns of CT use within the collaborative setting. In general, these reflections were found to be superficial and descriptive, exhibiting a reductive view of CT as a set of technological features, which acted as a neutral medium for communication and participation. One consequence of this was a lack of awareness of the ways in which the technology influenced the behaviour of individual students or the collaborative nature of the group. We explore some potential causes for this and reflect on some difficulties faced by the students. These have important pedagogical implications for courses in which the learning objectives include the development of suitable competencies for working in a global collaborative environment