Evelyn Brannock

Integrating authentic learning into a software development course: an experience report

This paper describes our experience integrating an authentic learning project into a junior-level software development course. During the course, students applied full software development life cycle processes to meet a campus need -- providing classroom clicker support without purchasing additional hardware. The paper provides the motivation for this approach, summarizes relevant developments in classroom response systems, details the design of the class project, and shares our results. Finally, we offer reflections describing both intended and unintended outcomes of this experiment.

Perspectives on active learning and collaboration: JavaWIDE in the classroom

The Java Wiki Integrated Development Environment (JavaWIDE) is an innovative environment that promotes active learning and collaboration in programming courses. This paper surveys how JavaWIDEs features have been used to promote active and collaborative learning in both traditional and distance education (synchronous) in four different environments: high school, summer enrichment courses, and at two- and four-year colleges. The authors describe the context of each teaching and learning environment and the parts of JavaWIDE that are particularly well suited in each context. After discussing the active learning and collaboration techniques employed, student responses to the experience are summarized. This collection of case studies illustrates how the concurrent editing, shared environment awareness and other features of JavaWIDE can be used to promote active learning and collaboration within a heterogeneous set of teaching and learning environments.

Transforming programming-intensive courses with course-embedded research

In this paper, we discuss the Software Engineering Research Project (SERP) initiated at GGC College, a public four-year institution in southeastern United States. The long-term goal of SERP involves motivating students to pursue graduate degrees, research careers, or challenging industry work. Before students can engage in software engineering research, they need to develop a deeper appreciation for professional practice, scholarly literature, and research paradigms. To that end, we have identified activities to embed in two junior-level programming-intensive courses: Software Development I and Advanced Programming. Our three-pronged approach includes attendance at professional events, participation in a research project, and exposure to computing research at a leading research university. In this paper, we detail our goals and objectives for the SERP program, illustrate a course redesign for two of the courses, and provide initial results from a pilot study.

Integrating Cutting Edge Devices to Increase Student Retention in Programming (Abstract Only)

Literature has estimated that about 33% of students who start a computer science degree program eventually drop or fail their first programming course. With the decreasing number of college graduates entering the computing industry, the workforce is missing out on the wealth and breadth of innate student ability and skills that are switching to non-STEM fields. This project developed, implemented and researched the effects of an innovative instructional strategy that integrated cutting-edge devices into an intermediate programming curriculum. Assignments were designed with the Java Software Ddevelopment Kkit for Java to strengthen student motivation and engagement by tapping into their creativity, collaborative skills, and critical thinking by using the InterAxon Muse, Oculus Rift, and the LeapMotion devices. Preliminary data indicates that although students may have enough motivation and interest in programming to persevere through the course, the implementation of this teaching methodology positively impacted their views and beliefs about programming skills and their relevance to their education. As well, survey data shows that student self-efficacy increased immediately after this educational intervention. Finally, instructor reflections point to a general shift in class morale and engagement with the inclusion of the assignments where students were required to solve problems without documentation. Future implications are also presented in this poster.

Operation Java blitz: extracurricular programming workshops to engage it students

An engaging context has been shown to improve student motivation and performance in programming courses. Therefore, we incorporated six hands-on, supplementary, voluntary workshops (called Operation Java Blitz, or OJB) on subjects that were not exhaustively included in the current programming curriculum in Spring 2014. The poster will discuss the sessions, the initial results from 34 students, and future plans.

An early introduction to android app development for CS1 using sofia

An engaging context has been shown to improve student motivation and performance in introductory programming courses (CS1). Therefore, we incorporated a self-contained, one-week learning module on mobile app development into a CS1 course using Eclipse and Sofia (the Simplified Open Framework for Innovative Android Applications). The module was conducted in 2 CS1 sections for a total of 44 students. Overall, students responded positively, with all successfully modifying the provided app and running it on an emulator. In future semesters, the authors plan to repeat the study, conducting surveys to gather student perspectives on Eclipse and the Sofia module. The poster will describe the module, initial results, and future plans.