Graphical scaffolding for the learning of data wrangling APIs

In order for students across the sciences to avail themselves of modern data streams, they must first know how to wrangle data: how to reshape ill-organised, tabular data into another format, and how to do this programmatically, in languages such as Python and R. Despite the cross-departmental demand and the ubiquity of data wrangling in analytical workflows, the research on how to optimise the instruction of it has been minimal. Although data wrangling as a programming domain presents distinctive challenges - characterised by on-the-fly syntax lookup and code example integration - it also presents opportunities. One such opportunity is how tabular data structures are easily visualised. To leverage the inherent visualisability of data wrangling, this dissertation evaluates three types of graphics that could be employed as scaffolding for novices: subgoal graphics, thumbnail graphics, and parameter graphics. Using a specially built e-learning platform, this dissertation documents a multi-institutional, randomised, and controlled experiment that investigates the pedagogical effects of these. Our results indicate that the graphics are well-received, that subgoal graphics boost the completion rate, and that thumbnail graphics improve navigability within a command menu. We also obtained several non-significant results, and indications that parameter graphics are counter-productive. We will discuss these findings in the context of general scaffolding dilemmas, and how they fit into a wider research programme on data wrangling instruction

Experience Report: Thinkathon -- Countering an "I Got It Working" Mentality with Pencil-and-Paper Exercises

Goal-directed problem-solving labs can lead a student to believe that the most important achievement in a first programming course is to get programs working. This is counter to research indicating that code comprehension is an important developmental step for novice programmers. We observed this in our own CS-0 introductory programming course, and furthermore, that students weren't making the connection between code comprehension in labs and a final examination that required solutions to pencil-and-paper comprehension and writing exercises, where sound understanding of programming concepts is essential. Realising these deficiencies late in our course, we put on three 3-hour optional revision evenings just days before the exam. Based on a mastery learning philosophy, students were expected to work through a bank of around 200 pencil-and-paper exercises. By comparison with a machine-based hackathon, we called this a Thinkathon. Students completed a pre and post questionnaire about their experience of the Thinkathon. While we find that Thinkathon attendance positively influences final grades, we believe our reflection on the overall experience is of greater value. We report that: respected methods for developing code comprehension may not be enough on their own; novices must exercise their developing skills away from machines; and there are social learning outcomes in programming courses, currently implicit, that we should make explicit

Best paper award: Experience report: thinkathon - countering an 'I got it working' mentality with pencil-and-paper exercises

Goal-directed problem-solving labs can lead a student to believe that the most important achievement in a first programming course is to get programs working. This is counter to research indicating that code comprehension is an important developmental step for novice programmers. We observed this in our own CS-0 introductory programming course, and furthermore, that students weren’t making the connection between code comprehension in labs and a final examination that required solutions to pencil-and-paper comprehension and writing exercises, where sound understanding of programming concepts is essential. Realising these deficiencies late in our course, we put on three 3-hour optional revision evenings just days before the exam. Based on a mastery learning philosophy, students were expected to work through a bank of around 200 pencil-and-paper exercises. By comparison with a machine-based hackathon, we called this a Thinkathon. Students completed a pre and post questionnaire about their experience of the Thinkathon. While we find that Thinkathon attendance positively influences final grades, we believe our reflection on the overall experience is of greater value. We report that: respected methods for developing code comprehension may not be enough on their own; novices must exercise their developing skills away from machines; and there are social learning outcomes in programming courses, currently implicit, that we should make explicit

Customer satisfaction and SST - How can these two factors come to be? : A quantitative research study on the impact of self service technology on customer satisfaction in the healthcare sector

The main purpose of conducting this study is to investigate the effects of factors capturingthe use of SST on attitude towards SST and customer satisfaction in the public healthcaresector. More specifically, the study examines the impact of technology readiness, needfor human interaction, perceived trust, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use onattitude towards SST and customer satisfaction. The study explores the website of 1177Vårdguiden, and is thus conducted in the context of the healthcare sector. Given thispurpose, our research question is:What kind of effects do the factors capturing the use of SST have on attitude towards SSTand customer satisfaction in the context of public healthcare?The study was conducted by focusing on a specific organization’s website. It is importantto note that the study was not in collaboration with 1177 Vårdguiden, and was strictlyperformed for academic purposes. To investigate the impact of the different factors, aquestionnaire was distributed among respondents who have used 1177 Vårdguiden’swebsite in Västerbotten during the last 12 months. The study primarily contributestheoretically to the TAM model by Davis (1986) and its extension by Elliott et al. (2012).Our model tested the impact of technology readiness, perceived usefulness and perceivedease of use on attitude towards SST, similarly to the extended model by Elliott et al.(2012) but also investigated the additional variables of need for human interaction andperceived trust. In the proposed model, we also added a second dependent variable -customer satisfaction.The data collection method was performed by using a quantitative approach. Thecollected data was analyzed by using the statistical software program Minitab, where weconducted the multiple regression analysis to test the relationships between the variables.The statistical analysis showed that perceived trust, perceived usefulness and perceivedease of use have significant effects on attitude towards SST. Technology readiness,perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use have a significant effect on customersatisfaction. We also found that attitude towards SST have a significant effect oncustomer satisfaction.This study provides practical insights for managers regarding SST, especially in thehealthcare sector. The findings of our study can be used to understand which factors ofan SST for customer use that are the most important to work with in order to facilitate apositive attitude towards the SST and higher customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction and SST - How can these two factors come to be? : A quantitative research study on the impact of self service technology on customer satisfaction in the healthcare sector

The main purpose of conducting this study is to investigate the effects of factors capturingthe use of SST on attitude towards SST and customer satisfaction in the public healthcaresector. More specifically, the study examines the impact of technology readiness, needfor human interaction, perceived trust, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use onattitude towards SST and customer satisfaction. The study explores the website of 1177Vårdguiden, and is thus conducted in the context of the healthcare sector. Given thispurpose, our research question is:What kind of effects do the factors capturing the use of SST have on attitude towards SSTand customer satisfaction in the context of public healthcare?The study was conducted by focusing on a specific organization’s website. It is importantto note that the study was not in collaboration with 1177 Vårdguiden, and was strictlyperformed for academic purposes. To investigate the impact of the different factors, aquestionnaire was distributed among respondents who have used 1177 Vårdguiden’swebsite in Västerbotten during the last 12 months. The study primarily contributestheoretically to the TAM model by Davis (1986) and its extension by Elliott et al. (2012).Our model tested the impact of technology readiness, perceived usefulness and perceivedease of use on attitude towards SST, similarly to the extended model by Elliott et al.(2012) but also investigated the additional variables of need for human interaction andperceived trust. In the proposed model, we also added a second dependent variable -customer satisfaction.The data collection method was performed by using a quantitative approach. Thecollected data was analyzed by using the statistical software program Minitab, where weconducted the multiple regression analysis to test the relationships between the variables.The statistical analysis showed that perceived trust, perceived usefulness and perceivedease of use have significant effects on attitude towards SST. Technology readiness,perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use have a significant effect on customersatisfaction. We also found that attitude towards SST have a significant effect oncustomer satisfaction.This study provides practical insights for managers regarding SST, especially in thehealthcare sector. The findings of our study can be used to understand which factors ofan SST for customer use that are the most important to work with in order to facilitate apositive attitude towards the SST and higher customer satisfaction

Visual recipes for slicing and dicing data: teaching data wrangling using subgoal graphics

The rising demand for data wrangling skills in today’s global market poses new challenges for the programming education community. Non-majors often need to learn it quickly alongside their other subjects. Previous research suggests that subgoal labels offer a powerful scaffolding strategy to help novices decompose problems. Because data wrangling is inherently easy to represent graphically, we wonder whether such labels could be augmented with subgoal graphics. To test this idea, we developed an online tutorial that features subgoal graphics in both programmatic and non-programmatic data wrangling exercises. Following an RCT paradigm, a control group is only given subgoal labels, without any graphics. The platform collects learner activity in order to evaluate the pedagogical benefits. Participants were recruited from multiple institutions (N=197, 134). Our results did not show a significant difference in various learner performance metrics, however subjective feedback from our participants suggest that learners perceive the graphics to be very helpful. We discuss possible reasons for the apparent disparity between objective and subjective data.Peer reviewe

Fisk- och skaldjursbestånd i hav och sötvatten 2021 : Resursöversikt

I rapporten kan du ta del av bedömningen som görs av situationen för bestånd som regleras inom ramen för EU:s gemensamma fiskeripolitik (GFP). Bedömningarna baseras på det forskningssamarbete och den rådgivning som sker inom det Internationella Havsforskningsrådet (ICES). Sammantaget redovisas tillståndet för 107 bestånd av 48 fisk- och skaldjursarter. De bestånd som förvaltas nationellt baseras på de biologiska underlagen, och rådgivningen i huvudsak på den forskning och övervakning samt analys som bedrivs av Institutionen för akvatiska resurser vid Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet (SLU Aqua) samt yrkesfiskets rapportering. Rapporten är en beställning från Havs- och vattenmyndigheten (HaV) till Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet (SLU) och utgör ett viktigt kunskapsunderlag till myndighetens arbete. Den uppfyller de krav som finns inom EU:s gemensamma fiskeripolitik om att basera förvaltningen på bästa tillgängliga vetenskap. Denna rapport är också ett stöd till det arbete som beskrivs närmare i strategin för framtidens fiske och tillhörande handlingsplaner för vattenbruk, yrkes- och fritidsfiske som HaV och Jordbruksverket har tagit fram i dialog med fiskets och vattenbrukets intressenter