Conference
Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education
About: Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education is an academic conference. The conference publishes majorly in the area(s): Curriculum & Computer science. Over the lifetime, 8837 publications have been published by the conference receiving 126264 citations.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
More filters
27 Jun 2005
TL;DR: An international survey of opinions was organized for more than 500 students and teachers and the results of the survey provide information of the difficulties experienced and perceived when learning and teaching programming.
Abstract: Programming is related to several fields of technology, and many university students are studying the basics of it. Unfortunately, they often face difficulties already on the basic courses. This work studies the difficulties in learning programming in order to support developing learning materials for basic programming courses. The difficulties have to be recognized to be able to aid learning and teaching in an effective way.An international survey of opinions was organized for more than 500 students and teachers. This paper analyses the results of the survey. The survey provides information of the difficulties experienced and perceived when learning and teaching programming. The survey results also provide basis for recommendations for developing learning materials and approaches.
852 citations
01 Dec 2001
TL;DR: A trial assessment of whether students can program was developed and a framework of expectations for first-year courses and suggestions for further work to develop more comprehensive assessments were developed.
Abstract: In computer science, an expected outcome of a student's education is programming skill. This working group investigated the programming competency students have as they complete their first one or two courses in computer science. In order to explore options for assessing students, the working group developed a trial assessment of whether students can program. The underlying goal of this work was to initiate dialog in the Computer Science community on how to develop these types of assessments. Several universities participated in our trial assessment and the disappointing results suggest that many students do not know how to program at the conclusion of their introductory courses. For a combined sample of 216 students from four universities, the average score was 22.89 out of 110 points on the general evaluation criteria developed for this study. From this trial assessment we developed a framework of expectations for first-year courses and suggestions for further work to develop more comprehensive assessments.
671 citations
24 Jun 2002
TL;DR: It is argued that such technology, no matter how well it is designed, is of little educational value unless it engages learners in an active learning activity, and a new taxonomy of learner engagement with visualization technology is suggested.
Abstract: Visualization technology can be used to graphically illustrate various concepts in computer science. We argue that such technology, no matter how well it is designed, is of little educational value unless it engages learners in an active learning activity. Drawing on a review of experimental studies of visualization effectiveness, we motivate this position against the backdrop of current attitudes and best practices with respect to visualization use. We suggest a new taxonomy of learner engagement with visualization technology. Grounded in Bloom's well-recognized taxonomy of understanding, we suggest metrics for assessing the learning outcomes to which such engagement may lead. Based on these taxonomies of engagement and effectiveness metrics, we present a framework for experimental studies of visualization effectiveness. Interested computer science educators are invited to collaborate with us by carrying out studies within this framework.
574 citations
01 Sep 1996
TL;DR: A brief overview of some of the more important results concerning computer programming and how they can affect course design is given.
Abstract: Can we turn novices into experts in a four year undergraduate program? If so, how? If not, what is the best we can do? While every teacher has his/her own opinion on these questions, psychological studies over the last twenty years have started to furnish scientific answers. Unfortunately, little of these results have been incorporated into curricula or textbooks. This report is a brief overview of some of the more important results concerning computer programming and how they can affect course design.
552 citations
01 Jun 2007
TL;DR: A survey among institutions around the world regarding failure rates in introductory programming courses and the design of the survey and the results are described.
Abstract: It is a common conception that CS1 is a very difficult course and that failure rates are high. However, until now there has only been anecdotal evidence for this claim. This article reports on a survey among institutions around the world regarding failure rates in introductory programming courses. The article describes the design of the survey and the results. The number of institutions answering the call for data was unfortunately rather low, so it is difficult to make firm conclusions. It is our hope that this article can be the starting point for a systematic collection of data in order to find solid proof of the actual failure and pass rates of CS1.
525 citations