 Computer programming has become a relevant element of the modern era Practically it is involved in all sectors of modern society Currently, many universities around the globe offer bachelor’s degree programs that contain computer programming related courses In order to gain insight into how computer programming is taught in Ecuadorian Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), we have conducted the first national survey on teaching computer programming in undergraduate CS programs In this survey participated 53 respondents from 13 Ecuadorian HEIs We report on programming paradigms, programming languages, integrated development environments and teaching strategies used in the programming learning process We found that the object-oriented paradigm along with the Java programming language are the most often used The NetBeans integrated development environment is the most commonly used among the respondents Concerning teaching strategies, e-learning platforms are commonly used as part of computer programming courses More than half of the respondents use collaborative strategies such as pair programming in their courses Finally, a half of the respondents use traditional computer labs for teaching programming; however, other approaches such as mobile devices, games and simulations, Arduino kits and robots start to be used as a teaching strategy Our findings can serve as a starting point for addressing reforms in computer programming courses taught in Ecuadorian CS undergraduate programs

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Current Trends of Teaching Computer Programming in Undergraduate CS Programs: A Survey from Ecuadorian Universities

In this work, we describe the first step towards electronic exams at the University of Stuttgart. The motivation, both driven by students and lecturers, is to offer assessments that are closer to real-life programming by allowing interactive programming and debugging not possible with pen and paper exams. This is in so far important as skills in computer algebra systems as for example MATLAB or programming languages like Java are an elementary ingredient of any engineering study nowadays. In this paper, we describe the technological basis tor computer based exams based on a system already successfully deployed for homework assignments, and describe its transition to an electronic assessment system. We discuss not only the technological requirements on software, its architecture and our choices for hardware, but also provide a brief introduction into the organizational and legal challenges that we are going to overcome.

Towards electronic exams in undergraduate engineering

We implemented a survey with one learning group using the web-based tools and a control group working with a traditional setup based on editor and compiler. In a recent publication, we described the design and implementation of a web-based programming lab (ViPLab) targeted at undergraduate Engineering and Mathematics courses. This work provides a quantitative analysis of the user feedback, experience and learning success. The survey shows that web-based installations are as efficient as classical tools, while Windows users prefer the web-based chain over the editor/compiler installation on Linux. This justifies the use of web-based installations in programming beginner courses, if the learning target focuses on programming and not a particular tool chain.

A Quantitative Analysis of a Virtual Programming Lab

CampusConnect is an initiative of twelve universities in the Southwest of Germany to connect their Learning Management Systems (LMS) to support their cooperative degree programmes and courses. The technical infrastructure of CampusConnect allows the possibility to publish course information across the LMSs of different universities (hence showing the students which courses are supported by electronic learning resources at other universities). It leads the students to these courses (simply by links), and gives them access to these courses by offering a token-based authentication.

CampusConnect: An open-source initiative to connect Learning Management Systems

Electronic assessments in E-LearningSystems (e. g. ILIAS) can be used in exercises to reduce personal costs. Question types in computer science or mathematics often require formal inputs like terms or proofs. A string based comparison between the users submission and the solution is not sufficient to evaluate the correctness of the submission. Plugin systems, as used in ILIAS, can be used to implement new question types but this method is complex and error-prone. We show a service-oriented approach to implement new question types in ILIAS based on existing services. A compiler is used to translate user input language in service language which improves users readability and allows syntax checking before invoking a service call. Zusammenfassung—Lernplattformen wie ILIAS bieten die Möglichkeit, Testund Übungsaufgaben zu stellen und automatisch auswerten zu lassen. Aufgabenstellungen der Informatik und Mathematik fordern insbesondere die Eingabe formaler Ausdrücke, z. B. Terme, Beweise und Programmcode. Hier reicht ein einfacher Textvergleich mit der Musterlösung nicht mehr aus, um alle Variationen gültiger Lösungen abzudecken. Die Erweiterungsmöglichkeiten von ILIAS durch Plugins sind für das Hinzufügen spezieller Fragetypen zu komplex und fehlerträchtig. Wir stellen einen serviceorientierten Ansatz vor, mit dem neue Fragetypen durch Anbinden und Kombinieren bereits vorhandener Werkzeuge in ILIAS integriert werden können. Durch den Einsatz von Übersetzern in den Adaptern lässt sich die Eingabesprache anpassen und auf syntaktische und statisch semantische Fehler überprüfen, noch bevor externe Services aufgerufen werden.

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Eine Softwarearchitektur für serviceorientierte Fragetypen in E-Learning-Systemen (A Software Architecture for Service-Oriented Assessments in E-Learning-Systems).

In the process of the implementation of the eBologna program of the European states and the recent change of the German university system from the Diploma to the Bachelor/Master system, studies at German universities have been redesigned, courses have been condensed and learning content has been re-structured into granular "modules", each of which requires an evaluation at the end of the semester. Simultaneously, the skills required for working as an engineer changed as well, handling of computer software, knowledge of mathematical or numerical algorithms and programming skills play an increasingly important role in the daily job routine of the working engineer. To support the learning by practical exercises, engineering faculties, mathematics and physics, and the Computing Center of the University of Stuttgart setup a project for implementing an online programming lab for teaching the required skills. The focus of this project is to provide easy access to the necessary software tools, avoid the overhead of installation and maintenance, and seamlessly integrate these tools into the eLearning infrastructure of the university. This paper describes the motivation and backgrounds, the software infrastructure and early results of this project.

S. Rudlof

Papers

ViPLab - A Virtual Programming Laboratory for Mathematics and Engineering