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

Representation of analogies found in human tutoring sessions

We describe the use of analogies in 75 one-on-one tutoring sessions with first-year medical students carried on by two professors of physiology at Rush Medical College. Analogies were not very frequent, but were extremely effective when they were used. We have analyzed the goals, the topics, and the discourse strategies for proposing analogies. We have also studied the ways that the tutors follow up on these analogies and clarify them when necessary, with the goal of implementing analogies in our intelligent tutoring system, CIRCSIM-Tutor. Our knowledge representation scheme is based on Gentner’s theory and Forbus ’ MAC/FAC model, which allows for structural mappings between analogies

Informed discussion in information technology survey courses

Structured debates have been suggested as a way to help students understand the basic ethical, social, and legal issues inherent in information technology. In this paper, we present evidence that a form of less structured debates we call informed discussions provide equal benefits. As with debates, informed discussions allow for a high-level of participation, demand that students conduct significant research, and provide an interactive environment. However, informed discussion is more engaging for certain populations. Our work is based on debates and informed discussions conducted in three courses. Two of these courses are at the undergraduate level and one is a Masters level course; all provide a survey of some area of information technology