Catálogo de publicaciones - revistas

<jats:p>Providing students with the professional, communication, and technical skills necessary to contribute to an ongoing software project is critical, yet often difficult in higher education. Involving student teams in real-world projects developed by professional software engineers for actual users is invaluable. Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) has emerged as an important approach to creating, managing, and distributing software products. Involvement in a FOSS project provides students with experience developing within a professional environment, with a professional community, and has the additional benefit that all communication and artifacts are publicly accessible. Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) projects benefit the human condition in some manner. They can range from disaster management to microfinance to election-monitoring applications. This article discusses the benefits and challenges of students participating in HFOSS projects within the context of undergraduate computing degree programs. This article reports on a 6-year study of students' self-reported attitudes and learning from participation in an HFOSS project. Results indicate that working on an HFOSS project increases interest in computing. In addition, students perceive that they are gaining experience in developing software in a distributed environment with the attendant skills of communication, distributed teamwork, and more.</jats:p>

<jats:p>Context: Programming courses are compulsory for most engineering degrees, but students’ performance on these courses is often not as good as expected. Programming is difficult for students to learn, given that it includes a lot of new, complex, and abstract topics. All of this has led experts to the conclusion that new teaching techniques are required if students are to be motivated and engaged in learning on programming courses. Gamification has come to be an effective technique in education in general, and is especially useful in programming courses. This motivated us to develop an open source gamified platform, called UDPiler, for use in a programming course.</jats:p> <jats:p>Objective: The main goal of this article is to obtain empirical evidence on the improvement of students’ learning performance when using UDPiler in comparison to a non-gamified compiler.</jats:p> <jats:p>Method: A quasi-experiment was performed with two groups of first-year engineering students at Diego Portales University in Chile, using a non-gamified compiler and a gamified platform, respectively.</jats:p> <jats:p>Results: The results reveal that the students obtained better marks when the gamified platform was used to learn C programming. In addition, there is statistical significance in favor of there being a positive effect on the learning performance of those students who used the gamified platform.</jats:p> <jats:p>Conclusions: The results allow us to conclude that gamification is an encouraging approach with which to teach C programming, a finding that is aligned with previous empirical studies concerning gamification on programming courses, carried out in academic contexts. Nonetheless, we are aware that further validation is also required to corroborate and strengthen the findings obtained and to investigate whether the kind of gamified elements (mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics) used have any influence on students’ performance, among other issues that deserve further investigation and that are explained throughout this article.</jats:p>

<jats:p> <jats:bold>Motivation.</jats:bold> As K-12 computing education becomes more established throughout the world, there is an increasing focus on accessibility for all, whether in a particular country or setting or in areas of the world that may not yet have computing established. This is primarily articulated as an equity issue. The recently developed CAPE ( <jats:italic>capacity for</jats:italic> , <jats:italic>access to</jats:italic> , <jats:italic>participation in</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>experience of</jats:italic> computer science education) Framework is one way of demonstrating stages and dependencies and understanding relative equity, taking into consideration the disparities between sub-populations. While there is existing research that covers the state of computing education and equity issues, it is mostly in high-income countries; there is minimal research in the context of low-middle income countries like the Sub-Saharan African countries. <jats:bold>Objectives.</jats:bold> The objective of the paper is therefore to report on a pilot study investigating the capacity (one of the equity issues), for delivering computing education in four Sub-Saharan African countries: Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda, countries which are in different geographic regions as well as in different income brackets (low-middle income). <jats:bold>Method.</jats:bold> In addition to reviewing the capacity issues of curriculum and policy around computing education in each country, we surveyed 58 teachers about the infrastructure, resources, professional development, and curriculum for computing in their country. We used a localized version of the MEasuring TeacheR Enacted Computing Curriculum (METRECC) instrument for this purpose. <jats:bold>Results.</jats:bold> We analyzed the results through the lens of the CAPE framework at the capacity level. We identified similarities and differences in the data from teachers who completed the original METRECC survey, all of whom were from high-income countries and African teachers. The data revealed statistically significant differences between the two data sets in relation to access to resources and professional development opportunities in computer studies/computer science, with the African teachers experiencing more barriers. Results further showed that African teachers focus less on teaching algorithms and programming than teachers from high-income countries. In addition, we found differences between African countries in the study, reflecting their relative access to IT infrastructure and resources. <jats:bold>Discussion.</jats:bold> The findings suggest that African countries are still struggling with the lowest level of the CAPE pyramid, <jats:italic>Capacity for</jats:italic> as compared to high-income countries. This level is concerned with the availability of resources that support the enactment of a computing curriculum of high quality. The CAPE framework helps map the progression from <jats:italic>Capacity for</jats:italic> to <jats:italic>Experience of</jats:italic> computer science education as a route to equity, but in order to support development in low and middle-income countries, it may be helpful to have the capacity level finely grained. Such an adaptation draws out dependencies between policy and vision, infrastructure, curriculum implementation, and teacher professional development. More research is recommended to investigate these dependencies further and thus support and facilitate the development of global computing education. </jats:p>

<jats:p>This article reviews literature on worked examples in the context of programming activities. We focus on two types of examples, namely code-tracing and code-generation examples, because there is sufficient research on these to warrant a review. We synthesize key results according to themes that emerged from the review. This synthesis aims to provide practical guidance for educators and shed light on future research opportunities. While there is established work in some areas (e.g., dynamic code-tracing examples in the form of program visualization tools, utility of subgoals in code-generation examples, incomplete examples in the form of Parsons puzzles), there are also gaps. Thus, the article concludes with directions for future work on examples in computer science education.</jats:p>

<jats:p>Many practitioners might struggle with becoming productive in different software engineering (SE) roles due to misalignment of the skills learnt during the university with what is expected in the industry. Companies spend significant resources to train the personnel, whose academic backgrounds are not only based on "computing disciplines". Hiring properly trained practitioners allows employers to spend less time while incorporating them more efficiently into the workforce; for employees, knowing the most important skillset is helpful to increase their chance of employability. On the other hand, for academia, understanding the necessary skillset is critical to make curriculum updates. To achieve these objectives, we conducted a survey, which was responded by 628 software practitioners, who completed their undergraduate degree in Turkey, working in 13 countries. This paper sheds light on the most important (hard and soft) skills in the industry by presenting various cross-factor analyses as well as their coverage in the academic curriculum (mostly in Turkish universities). The results showed that the most important skills are related to various factors such as profiles of the practitioners (e.g., SE role(s), work experience) and the characteristics of the product developed by the practitioner. The findings revealed that both academia and industry should invest in skills improvement: academia can make necessary educational updates according to industrial needs; whereas industry can provide practical experiences to students. By creating the awareness of the expected skillset, both practitioners and academics will benefit from the results, which help close the gaps that can and should be achieved through more Industry Academia Collaborations (IACs).</jats:p>

<jats:p>Modeling is an integral part of many computing-related disciplines and thus also represents a curricular core component in computing education in tertiary education. Competence models in which modeling is integrated at least to some extent already exist in some of these disciplines. However, for the core component of graphical modeling, a competence model that illuminates the relevant competences in detail is still lacking. Therefore, we develop a competence model for graphical modeling with the aim to make teaching and especially assessments in the field more competence-oriented. This paper reports on the first two studies conducted to develop and validate the competence model for graphical modeling. In the first study, the structure of the competence model was developed based on theories and approaches of educational science. Competences relevant for graphical modeling were deductively derived from literature and existing university course descriptions using techniques of qualitative content analysis. The result of the first study is a preliminary competence model. In the second study, the preliminary competence model was reviewed by means of an expert rating in the modeling community. The competence model was revised and refined based on these findings and subsequent expert discussions. The main result of the investigation represents the competence model for graphical modeling (CMGM), which includes a total of 74 competence facets at different cognitive process levels in the five content areas of ”model understanding and interpreting”, ”model building and modifying”, ”values, attitudes, and beliefs”, ”metacognitive knowledge and skills”, and ”social-communicative skills”.</jats:p>

<jats:p> <jats:bold>Context</jats:bold>    With the introduction of computer science (CS) into curricula worldwide, teachers’ adoption of CS-pedagogical content is essential to ensure the long-term success of reform initiatives. Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programs play a key role in this process. Unfortunately, adoption is seldom evaluated in CS-CPDs, or CPDs in general. The result is a dearth of studies i) modelling teachers’ adoption of CS-pedagogical content, or ii) investigating factors influencing the uptake of this new discipline. Both aspects are crucial to design and characterise successful CPD programs. </jats:p> <jats:p> <jats:bold>Objectives</jats:bold>    We thus propose the Teachers’ Adoption of CS (TACS) model to investigate factors influencing the adoption of CS-pedagogical content by teachers who are following a mandatory CS-CPD program. More specifically, the model proposes that contextual factors (e.g. age, gender, and general teaching experience), prior factors (e.g. experience, and CS perception), and acceptance factors (e.g. interest, and self-efficacy) may impact teachers’ adoption of CS-pedagogical content. </jats:p> <jats:p> <jats:bold>Methods</jats:bold>    The study included 180 grade 5-6 teachers (students aged 9-11) that were following a mandatory CS-CPD program. The CS-CPD program involved participation in three day-long sessions distributed over the 2019-2020 academic year. In between sessions, with the support of instructional coaches in the schools, teachers were encouraged, but not required, to adopt the CS-pedagogical content. Therefore, during the CPD, and employing surveys based on the TACS model, we evaluated teachers’ adoption of the proposed content and investigated how the different factors influenced it. </jats:p> <jats:p> <jats:bold>Results</jats:bold>    At the PD-level, the results indicate that self-efficacy and interest queried during the CS-CPD are indicative of CS-pedagogical content adoption. To shed more light on the relationship between these metrics, a more in-depth analysis was conducted with n=92 teachers whose responses could be matched between sessions. While interest relates to how teachers adopt CS-pedagogical content overall, both interest and self-efficacy are necessary to ensure the likelihood of a specific activity being adopted. Finally, individual teacher characteristics appear to impact adoption, with teachers with low ICT experience requiring onboarding, while middle-aged teachers require convincing to adopt CS-pedagogical content. </jats:p> <jats:p> <jats:bold>Conclusion</jats:bold>    Three takeaways emerge from the study. First, the analyses confirm the foundation of the TACS model. Second, the findings establish the key role that interest plays in said model. Finally, the results support the relationship between the contextual, prior and acceptance factors on the adoption of primary school CS-pedagogical content. </jats:p>

<jats:p>Instrument development is an important step towards unlocking the analytical power of teacher attitudes and beliefs towards Computer Science (CS). Teacher dispositions have strong empirical and theoretical ties to teacher motivation, professional choices, and classroom practices. To determine consensus desirable attitudes and beliefs we analyzed 17 key documents produced by 12 national and international organizations associated with CS and the CS education reform movement. An analysis of 98 relevant coded segments yielded four dispositional targets: an equity orientation, a teacher growth mindset, and key beliefs regarding (career) outcomes and epistemology of CS. Statements crafted for these targets as well as self-efficacy were reviewed through an expert panel (N = 5) and a pilot study (N = 22) before the T-ABC was administered to elementary teachers in a large grant-funded outreach project (N = 772). Psychometric analysis demonstrates high reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.89) and satisfactory extraction and loading onto a three factor model, with CS beliefs, growth mindset, and self-efficacy as major factors. Identification and measurements of teacher dispositions enables further analysis of how teacher beliefs may support or hinder effective practice in CS instruction, how teacher populations may differ, and how identified dispositions may change with exposure to various CS learning experiences.</jats:p>

<jats:p>In this paper, I reflect on how my personal conceptions on “theory” have developed and become more diverse and elaborated during my career. I discuss early conceptions I learned in school and during my university studies, followed by the growing awareness of computing education research as a field that is distinct from many areas of computer science. Becoming aware of how research is carried out in social sciences and how theories are used in these contexts raised my interest in understanding what this implies for computing education research as a field, which has been building its own identity during the past 20+ years.</jats:p>

<jats:p> In this paper, I interrogate the relation between a researcher and the theories that the researcher gets involved with. I use my own trajectory as a computing education researcher as a way to make visible how different conceptions of this relation are shaped through prior encounters with different theories in the human sciences, particularly theories of mind, language, and knowledge. While modernist theories stemming from the Enlightenment that presuppose a disengaged researcher have predominated in CS and CER, theories of mind, language, and knowledge associated with pragmatist and phenomenological philosophical perspectives from the 20 <jats:sup>th</jats:sup> century challenge these modernist views. Under these newer theoretical perspectives, the researcher is always already involved with theory, even if such theory has withdrawn into the unnoticed background, a background that gives every research study its intelligibility. Recognizing that all researchers are caught in the grip of theory may help in both abandoning theories that no longer serve and staying open to adopt new and emergent theories. </jats:p>