The Impact of the English Computing Curriculum on Young People as Delivered at Key Stage 3

In 2014 the UK became one of the first countries to formally include computing in its National Curriculum Framework. The new Computing Curriculum had a broader focus, including fundamentals of computer science, computer programming and digital literacy in order to prepare young people for the digital economy and future digital world. This doctoral research focuses on the impact of the new computing curriculum on young people at Key Stage 3, particularly using three core themes of the computing curriculum: digital economy, digital literacy, computational thinking. The analysis used these core themes with thematic coding to answer the research question: To what extent do the young people subject to the English computing curriculum (as delivered at Key Stage 3) and their teachers, feel it prepares young people for a digital economy and the future digital world, specifically in terms of being digital literate and being able to think computationally? The research fieldwork was conducted across 3 secondary schools in the northwest of England and comprised of qualitative group interviews with 54 young people and extended individual interviews with 9 teachers. This research found that young people did not feel the computing curriculums was adequately preparing them for the digital economy – specifically they did not feel they were learning to be digitally literate and considered that computational thinking was something that people were either naturally good at or not. This thesis contributes to the field of Computing Education by being one of the few studies to use qualitative methods to understand young people’s experience of computing education

The Impact of the English Computing Curriculum on Young People as Delivered at Key Stage 3

In 2014 the UK became one of the first countries to formally include computing in its National Curriculum Framework. The new Computing Curriculum had a broader focus, including fundamentals of computer science, computer programming and digital literacy in order to prepare young people for the digital economy and future digital world. This doctoral research focuses on the impact of the new computing curriculum on young people at Key Stage 3, particularly using three core themes of the computing curriculum: digital economy, digital literacy, computational thinking. The analysis used these core themes with thematic coding to answer the research question: To what extent do the young people subject to the English computing curriculum (as delivered at Key Stage 3) and their teachers, feel it prepares young people for a digital economy and the future digital world, specifically in terms of being digital literate and being able to think computationally? The research fieldwork was conducted across 3 secondary schools in the northwest of England and comprised of qualitative group interviews with 54 young people and extended individual interviews with 9 teachers. This research found that young people did not feel the computing curriculums was adequately preparing them for the digital economy – specifically they did not feel they were learning to be digitally literate and considered that computational thinking was something that people were either naturally good at or not. This thesis contributes to the field of Computing Education by being one of the few studies to use qualitative methods to understand young people’s experience of computing education

Teaching Computer Science to 5-7 year-olds: An initial study with Scratch, Cubelets and unplugged computing

Changes to school curriculums increasingly require the introduction of computer science concepts to younger children. This practical report compares three existing tools for teaching computer science concepts: unplugged computing, tangible computing and MIT's Scratch. We specifically focus on the use of these tools for school pupils aged 5--7. We describe a comparative study with 28 pupils from three rural UK primary schools that explores engagement with, and effectiveness of, each tool. As far as we are aware this is the first such comparative study of its kind. We demonstrate that the studied tools can be used to successfully introduce core computer science concepts to pupils as young as 5 years of age, that the methods used by teachers to deliver computing curriculums may greatly impact the learning outcomes, and that particular care needs to be taken to ensure that pupils focus on learning concepts rather than learning tools

“Convince Us”: An Argument for the Morality of Persuasion

This paper explores the dierence between 'persuasion' and 'manipulation', both of which are instantiated in persuasive technologies to date. We present a case study of the system we are currently developing to foster local spending behavior by a community - group with sensitive implications for the community's sense of identity - and contrast our approach with what we would understand to be a manipulative approach. Our intention is to a) respond to anticipated critique that such a system could be interpreted as manipulative, b) present our argument for how persuasive technologies can be persuasive without being manipulative, and c) explain why, for this case study, it's important that our approach be persuasive

In the eye of a hurricane there is quiet, for just a moment,-

CHI can be a multisensory overload. Attendees endure days of workshops, presentations, evening parties, and ephemeral interactions. This paper attempts to disrupt that onslaught of activities [9]. It draws inspiration from theories and methods already in HCI-eg mindfulness [1], reflective design [8], and slow design [4, 7]-to bring eight pages of silence to the conference. This is meant to disrupt CHI's busy schedule and help attendees foster resilience. In pursuit of these aims, the authors will use the time and pages offered by this paper to facilitate a group silence; quiet, for just a moment, in the midst of the hurricane that is CHI

Keep the VRhythm going: A musician-centred study investigating how Virtual Reality can support creative musical practice

The acoustic and visual experiences of musicians in the spaces they perform in are complex and organic in nature, entailing a continuous interaction with the environment. With this project, we leverage the power of Virtual Reality (VR) to support musicians in their creative practice by transporting them to novel sonic and visual worlds. For this, we developed a musician-centred VR system, featuring various acoustic and visual virtual environments, VR Rehearse & Perform, based on design requirements gathered with musicians and performance experts. To investigate how VR can be designed to support music-makers in their creative musical practice, we performed iterative tests with 19 musicians followed by semi-structured interviews. Our fndings suggest that VR has the potential to support diferent aspects of the creative musical practice, such as rehearsing, performing and improvising. Our research provides insights and inspirations toward designing musician-centred VR experiences for various musical activities

VR Rehearse & Perform - A platform for rehearsing in Virtual Reality

In this paper, we propose VR Rehearse & Perform - a Virtual Reality application for enhancing the rehearsal efforts of performers by providing them access to accurate recreations - both visual and acoustical - of iconic concert venues

A Workshop on Designing the Performances of the Future at IMX 2022

This workshop aims to start a conversation as to what the performances of the future might look like by inviting both researchers and practitioners to present their work in this domain. It will explore the interception of technology and performance, with a focus on how technology might be leveraged to enhance performances and the process of developing performances, provide new ways to reach and interact with audiences, as well as how it can create new ways of performing

Keep the VRhythm going:A musician-centred study investigating how Virtual Reality can support creative musical practice

The acoustic and visual experiences of musicians in the spaces they perform in are complex and organic in nature, entailing a continuous interaction with the environment. With this project, we leverage the power of Virtual Reality (VR) to support musicians in their creative practice by transporting them to novel sonic and visual worlds. For this, we developed a musician-centred VR system, featuring various acoustic and visual virtual environments, VR Rehearse & Perform, based on design requirements gathered with musicians and performance experts. To investigate how VR can be designed to support music-makers in their creative musical practice, we performed iterative tests with 19 musicians followed by semi-structured interviews. Our findings suggest that VR has the potential to support different aspects of the creative musical practice, such as rehearsing, performing and improvising. Our research provides insights and inspirations toward designing musician-centred VR experiences for various musical activities

VR Rehearse & Perform - A platform for rehearsing in Virtual Reality

In this paper, we propose VR Rehearse & Perform - a Virtual Reality application for enhancing the rehearsal efforts of performers by providing them access to accurate recreations - both visual and acoustical - of iconic concert venues