Proceedings of the 2022 Conference on United Kingdom & Ireland Computing Education Research最新文献

{"title":"A Practice Enquiry Design to Investigate How Pair Programming Can Help with Constructing Automata","authors":"Oana Andrei","doi":"10.1145/3555009.3555031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3555009.3555031","url":null,"abstract":"Finite state automata (FSA) are a fundamental concept in the theory of computation and the undergraduate computer science education. However often students encounter difficulties with the task of constructing them due their abstract, theoretical nature. We present a disciplinary enquiry design investigating to what extent Pair Programming (PP) as a collaborative learning activity impacts on Software Engineering (SE) undergraduate students’ perceived and assessed performance when used for the task of constructing FSA.","PeriodicalId":423863,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the 2022 Conference on United Kingdom & Ireland Computing Education Research","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129638556","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Developing an On-Campus Internship Model for Computing Students - An Alternative Experiential Learning Pathway","authors":"Seán McHugh, Keith Quille, Lorraine Carmody, Keith E. Nolan","doi":"10.1145/3555009.3555019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3555009.3555019","url":null,"abstract":"Off-campus internships offer students the opportunity to practice and develop their technical, project and professional (soft) skills in an industry setting. It is an opportunity for students to improve their social and professional networks as well as to determine the career paths they wish to pursue after graduation. Internships have proven to be a predominant route to full-time early career graduate roles. Enterprise (for the purposes of this paper enterprise include for-profit business, civil service and public sector bodies) report that internships are beneficial as students bring new energy, fresh perspectives and innovation to the work projects and teams. Additionally, it provides early access to the new talent pool and the opportunity to assess employability of the intern during the internship period. However, not all students for various reasons can access traditional internship roles. This paper presents the development of the on-campus internship programme for computing students, which culminates in a model for delivering such a programme. The programme is a pathway for students who do not obtain off-campus internships, to gain experiential learning competencies to access future graduate careers. The development process is comprised of a comprehensive enterprise consultation, to determine their needs through 1) a focus group, 2) interviews and 3) surveys. Furthermore, this paper presents the findings of an on-campus internship pilot through student surveys. These consultations combined with the pilot informed the model design structured around three skills tracks. The work presented in this paper is of value to the computing education community, as the model provides the opportunity for institutions to develop an alternative student on-campus internship programme while still meeting employability needs.","PeriodicalId":423863,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the 2022 Conference on United Kingdom & Ireland Computing Education Research","volume":"52 2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123210510","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Speeding Up Automated Assessment of Programming Exercises","authors":"Sami Sarsa, Juho Leinonen, Charles Koutcheme, Arto Hellas","doi":"10.1145/3555009.3555013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3555009.3555013","url":null,"abstract":"Introductory programming courses around the world use automatic assessment. Automatic assessment for programming code is typically performed via unit tests which require computation time to execute, at times in significant amounts, leading to computation costs and delay in feedback to students. We present a step-based approach for speeding up automated assessment to address the issue, consisting of (1) a cache of past programming exercise submissions and their associated test results to avoid retesting equivalent new submissions; (2) static analysis to detect e.g. infinite loops (heuristically) ; (3) a machine learning model to evaluate programs without running them ; and (4) a traditional set of unit tests. When a student submits code for an exercise, the code is evaluated sequentially through each step, providing feedback to the student at the earliest possible time, reducing the need to run tests. We evaluate the impact of the proposed approach using data collected from an introductory programming course and demonstrate a considerable reduction in the number of exercise submissions that require running the tests (up to 80% of exercises). Using the approach leads to faster feedback in a more sustainable way, and also provides opportunities for precise non-exercise specific feedback in steps (2) and (3).","PeriodicalId":423863,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the 2022 Conference on United Kingdom & Ireland Computing Education Research","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131177698","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Towards Integrated Graduate Skills for UK Computing Science Students","authors":"Rosanne English, Alan Hayes","doi":"10.1145/3555009.3555018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3555009.3555018","url":null,"abstract":"In preparing computing science students for industry, degree content often focuses on technical skills such as programming. Such skills are essential for a successful post-study career in industry and is popular with students. However, industry notes that students are often limited in what can be referred to as graduate attributes or transferable skills. Such skills include effective teamwork, communication, and critical thinking amongst others. Similar gaps have also been demonstrated for computing science students more specifically, resulting in industry developing their own training programmes for graduates. To address this issue, graduate attributes could be incorporated more readily into computing curricula. Within the UK this is discussed in accreditation requirements as well as higher education frameworks. However, research which aims to explore how to achieve this is still comparatively limited. Building on existing work in this area, this paper presents a thematic analysis of graduate attributes at Russell Group Universities in the UK to identify the most common attribute themes, and uses the most frequent themes to begin to consider how these could be more readily embedded in CS curricula.","PeriodicalId":423863,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the 2022 Conference on United Kingdom & Ireland Computing Education Research","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122675779","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Who’s using my research? Influencing the impact of computing education research on practice","authors":"Sue Sentance","doi":"10.1145/3555009.3555010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3555009.3555010","url":null,"abstract":"The ultimate goal of any research relating to education is to make a difference, either directly or indirectly, to the learning experience. Educational research can generate reliable and valid answers to well-defined questions, providing evidence to inform changes to policy or practice [7]. Educational research in the domain of computer science is no exception. We can consider research-to-practice from three perspectives: educators, researchers and policymakers. Firstly, for educators the importance of research-informed practice is paramount, whether we are a school teacher (K-12 educator) or a university lecturer. However, we have seen both concerns about research reaching practice where is no evidence for its use [3, 5], and challenges impacting the implementation of research in the classroom [1]. Secondly, as researchers we necessarily want to focus on impact to ensure that our research is worthwhile and makes a difference. The creation of case studies demonstrating impact is an important part of the cycle of research excellence in the UK at least, determining funding and institutional reputation. However, research knowledge may be propositional rather than procedural or practical and narrowly-focused on single issues [1]. Thirdly, as governments around the world spend billions of pounds on education, it is crucial that policy is informed by research evidence [7]. Computer science education research (CSER) is a unique field in many ways. Unlike mathematics and science education research it has made its home in university computer science departments (rather than in faculties of education), and for decades it primarily focused on university-level teaching and learning. Higher education teaching practice is necessarily localised and the impact of some CSER has been arguably very local too, driven by excitement rather than educators’ familiarity with pedagogy [4]. In recent years we’ve seen the growth of CSER focusing on school education alongside the introduction of computing into many countries’ curricula around the world [6, 8]; with the lack of an established knowledge base on the teaching and assessment of computing we have the opportunity and responsibility to make our research as impactful as possible. Knowledge mobilisation (KM) provides us with a theoretical lens through which we can usefully analyse how knowledge provided by research can reach practice [9]. One KM framework suggests that knowledge can be mobilised through transfer, translation or transformation, or some combination of these mechanisms [1, 2], and provides a useful tool for a discussion of CSER and its impact on practice. In this UKICER keynote I will be examining the topic of the impact of research with specific reference to computer science education research, through both a discussion of KM and also highlighting practical suggestions for researchers. I hope through this keynote to promote conversation around the ways in which we can all focus on impact in CSER and loo","PeriodicalId":423863,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the 2022 Conference on United Kingdom & Ireland Computing Education Research","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133650728","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Variations in Sense of Belonging in Undergraduate Computing Students Through the COVID-19 Pandemic","authors":"Shamima Nasrin Runa, Brett A. Becker, Catherine Mooney","doi":"10.1145/3555009.3555029","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3555009.3555029","url":null,"abstract":"Student sense of belonging, or belongingness, is important and has been associated with motivation, persistence, and other outcomes. However, belongingness varies according to factors such as race/ethnicity and gender [2]. In previous work, there have been statistically significant differences in the belongingness of computing students identifying as women and as part of a minority [2]. During the COVID-19 pandemic there was a reduction in the belongingness of students identifying as men, and those not identifying as being part of a minority, and an increase in the belongingness of women identifying as a minority [3]. Our current work shows that the belongingness of men and women not identifying as being part of a minority has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, despite returning to campus, and a further statistically significant drop in the belongingness of men who identify as part of a minority. This work shows that further efforts need to be made to restore student belongingness to pre-pandemic levels and may yield insight into how events affect belongingness.","PeriodicalId":423863,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the 2022 Conference on United Kingdom & Ireland Computing Education Research","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126663192","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Computing Competencies for Engineering Students","authors":"Joe Dillane, Ioannis Karvelas, Brett A. Becker","doi":"10.1145/3555009.3555025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3555009.3555025","url":null,"abstract":"As skills are abilities acquired over time with practice, it follows that if students are to learn computing skills and competencies they should be given suitable support and opportunity. We present a new integrated approach to teaching computing to non-CS majors – specifically engineers – and a research study that has been designed to evaluate its effect on the learning and behaviour of these students. By embedding computing in the assessment of modules across the curriculum, this research also aims to demonstrate how this approach may support learning across multiple disciplines.","PeriodicalId":423863,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the 2022 Conference on United Kingdom & Ireland Computing Education Research","volume":"35 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130004164","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Weekly Fluctuations in Motivation in Introductory Programming","authors":"Hannu Pesonen, Arto Hellas","doi":"10.1145/3555009.3555012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3555009.3555012","url":null,"abstract":"In this study, we look into fluctuations in types of motivation in an introductory programming course. Using weekly surveys to measure intrinsic motivation through interest and enjoyment, willingness to learn, interest in context, and time spent on the programming course, we study the evolution of students’ motivation throughout the course. We identify subgroups based on the collected data, and study to what extent the early course motivation and time spent on the course can be used to predict course retention. We observe substantial fluctuations in motivation and time spent over the course rounds, and further identify three subgroups of students in the data with considerable variation in motivation and time spent. At the same time, we observe that despite marked differences in motivation and the time that students spend on the course, these differences, early on in the course, do not seem to help in predicting course dropouts.","PeriodicalId":423863,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the 2022 Conference on United Kingdom & Ireland Computing Education Research","volume":"140 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130781643","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Computing in School in the UK & Ireland: A Comparative Study","authors":"Sue Sentance, Diana Kirby, Keith Quille, Elizabeth Cole, T. Crick, Nicola Looker","doi":"10.1145/3555009.3555015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3555009.3555015","url":null,"abstract":"Many countries have increased their focus on computing in primary and secondary education in recent years and the UK and Ireland are no exception. The four nations of the UK have distinct and separate education systems, with England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland offering different national curricula, qualifications, and teacher education opportunities; this is the same for the Republic of Ireland. This paper describes computing education in these five jurisdictions and reports on the results of a survey conducted with computing teachers. A validated instrument was localised and used for this study, with 512 completed responses received from teachers across all five countries The results demonstrate distinct differences in the experiences of the computing teachers surveyed that align with the policy and provision for computing education in the UK and Ireland. This paper increases our understanding of the differences in computing education provision in schools across the UK and Ireland, and will be relevant to all those working to understand policy around computing education in school.","PeriodicalId":423863,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the 2022 Conference on United Kingdom & Ireland Computing Education Research","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125421326","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A computational thinking module for secondary students and pre-service teachers using Bebras-style tasks","authors":"Taina Lehtimäki, James H. Hamm, Aidan Mooney, K. Casey, Rosemary Monahan, T. Naughton","doi":"10.1145/3555009.3555030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3555009.3555030","url":null,"abstract":"We have developed a Transition Year (TY) computational thinking module (for 15-16 year olds) based on Bebras tasks that was delivered online by teachers at 240 schools in Ireland during 2021-2022. To serve primary and secondary pre-service teachers, we have started developing a 24-hour module based on this TY module. We are co-creating the module with education experts and CS academics working collaboratively. The education experts consist of academics and pre-service teachers from both primary and secondary teaching departments at our institution.","PeriodicalId":423863,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the 2022 Conference on United Kingdom & Ireland Computing Education Research","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126876309","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}