by J. Biggs and C. Tang, Maidenhead, England,
Open University Press, 2007, 360 pp., £29.99, ISBN-13: 978-0-335-22126-4

Teaching for quality learning at university

This paper addresses two interrelated problems currently confronting computer science education, motivating students while simultaneously providing them with the skills they'll need to solve complex interconnected problems. We describe a framework for motivating computer science students by adding the context of social good to introductory computing assignments. Adding the context in this manner also goes some way to addressing the need for graduates to have skills, attributes and behaviours appropriate to contributing to social good outcomes. Accompanying this, we provide 14 concrete examples of introductory computing projects that convey and reinforce computing's social relevance and potential for positive societal impact.

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A framework for enhancing the social good in computing education: a values approach

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A revolution is taking place across Europe and worldwide in how we teach our children about computing, in primary and secondary school. Out goes ICT and how to use Microsoft Office; in comes coding and computer science. Assessment has a crucial role to play in this revolution. If teachers use low-quality assessment instruments we will end-up teaching the wrong subject; and viceversa. This paper reviews the state of the field, and makes concrete, achievable proposals for developing shared, high quality assessments for computer science. Central to this proposal is the collaborative platform VIVA (the Vilnius collaboratively coded and Validated computer science questions/tasks for Assess- ment). Two requirements are key to VIVA: 1) support for multiple competency frameworks, so that the contributors can meta-tag resources with respect to the framework they are most familiar with; and 2) support for crowdsourcing the validation of each question/task and its mapping to competencies. The use of a taxonomy of questions/tasks type that has been mapped to computational thinking concepts and to a competency framework is proposed. Some seed questions are already available in the online platform prototype, and various supporters have granted permission to use large questions banks. The design requirements of a full implementation of the VIVA platform for a modern and effective approach to assessment including support for digital badges, are outlined; and some preliminary results from a survey administered to the initial contributors to VIVA are presented.

New Horizons in the Assessment of Computer Science at School and Beyond: Leveraging on the ViVA Platform

Academics expend a large amount of time and effort to sustain and enhance the motivation of undergraduate students. Typically based on a desire to ensure that all students achieve their full potential, approaches are based on an understanding that students who are highly motivated will learn more. Furthermore, institutional rewards accrue from effective use of academics' time, along with financial benefits associated with high levels of retention and progression. This working group report, based on practice in Europe, Australasia and North America, builds on previous work. It provides an updated and revised literature review, analyses a larger collection of survey data and has sought to triangulate earlier findings with qualitative data from practitioner interviews. The report covers established approaches in teaching, support and extra-curricular activities. It tracks emerging practice such as streamed and differentiated teaching, and research based and authentic learning. It also considers contemporary innovations in student activities. Finally it reports on a repository of tips and techniques which has been established to support faculty wishing to change or review current methods.

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Motivating all our students

It would be unlikely for any first year programming class to be solely composed of novices with the same aptitude for learning. We all have students who arrive with a range of abilities and backgrounds. We have students who barely know their way around a keyboard and those who have programmed professionally; this starting knowledge is also no indicator of learning ability. We need to support struggling students with little knowledge whilst maintaining the enthusiasm of those who are quick to learn, and trying not to de-motivate the ones in the middleThe aim of this working group was to explore the ways in which academics around the world enthuse their high achieving students; seeking things that work and things that don't. This has been achieved by a mixture of literature review and survey of current practice. The synthesis of these forms the basis for the recommendations we make.

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ITiCSE 2010 working group report motivating our top students

Motivating our top students

https://researchbank.swinburne.edu.au/file/1c457e24-0848-4659-9709-92a82ea3c746/1/PDF (Published version).pdf

Stanislav Kurkovsky

Papers

Motivating all our students

ITiCSE 2010 working group report motivating our top students

Motivating our top students

Participation rate in CS: one international issue or multiplicity of national ones?