Sonal Dekhane

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.

Work in progress — Inter-disciplinary collaboration for a meaningful experience in a software development course

This paper addresses two main problems in two different domains by integrating them into one interdisciplinary project. Software engineering graduates lack the necessary skills and experience required by employers to address real-world problems. Students enrolled in organic chemistry course often struggle with the content due to its visual nature and its requirement for several learning skills (visual, logical, mechanical). To address these two seemingly non-related educational issues, the investigators in this project have devised a “business” relationship between the students in an upper-level software engineering course and the students in an organic chemistry course. The software engineering students have been “hired” to design and develop a mobile application to help tutor and teach the organic chemistry concept of “functional groups” by involving multiple avenues of learning. By enabling this business relationship we attempt to provide the software engineering students with authentic experiences involved in developing software and to provide organic chemistry students with a tool that helps them learn fundamental concepts in organic chemistry.

Programming Boot Camp to retain women in IT: An experience report

Underrepresented students in computing can face critical challenges to retention including lack of prior exposure to programming and feelings of isolation due to a non-diverse classroom. Consequently, students may delay enrolling in programming courses, which interrupts progress towards their degree and decreases confidence in their ability to succeed in college and computing careers. One strategy to overcome the perceived and actual difficulties undergraduate students encounter in an introductory programming course is to participate in a summer Programming Boot Camp (PBC). PBC is a short-term, intense event focused on improving Java programming skills, providing career and professional development, and building a stronger network with faculty, peers, and industry experts. In this paper, we describe the structure and format of a weeklong PBC held at Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) for female computing undergraduates. We report on the impacts of the program in terms of increasing confidence, improving programming skills, and encouraging student engagement.

Can Programming Boot Camp Help Under-represented College Students Succeed in Computing Degrees? (Abstract Only)

Programming Boot Camp is one strategy to overcome the perceived and actual difficulties undergraduate students encounter in an introductory programming course. It is estimated that of the over two million students starting computer science studies in universities and colleges all over the world in 1999, 33% dropped or failed their first programming course. Consequently, undergraduate students delay enrolling in programming courses, which interrupts progress toward their degree and decreases confidence in their ability to succeed in college and computing careers. Programming Boot Camp provides a combination of intense programming labs with professional development and community building activities to help increase confidence, create awareness of opportunities, and build a supporting peer network. How does this strategy work on different campuses with different demographics? Attendees will be able to connect with people who have implemented boot camp, are interested in sharing resources, and discussing how appropriate a boot camp would be for their students. Those who have already implemented a boot camp will be encouraged to share their curriculum, workshop strategies, and how effective they were in goals like: increasing the programming skills of the participants and their confidence in it, inspiring participants to persist in computing, and building a network of mentors and peers to support persistence in computing. Participants who seek to increase success in programming courses will be encouraged to discuss campus specific needs to gather input from those who have implemented boot camps and how they adapted the concept to their population and institutional culture.

Course-embedded research in software development courses

In this paper we describe our initiative to incorporate research, professional practice and methodologies into two undergraduate software engineering courses. As part of the Undergraduate Research Experience (URE) initiative on our campus, we modified two of our core software engineering courses. In our Software Development II (junior level) and Software Development Project (senior level) courses we integrated research projects, corporate visits and research talks to develop a deeper understanding of software engineering research and practice amongst our students.

Using mobile apps to support novice programming students

The ubiquity of mobile devices and the advancement in mobile technology have enabled teaching and learning to occur outside of traditional teaching spaces. Learning can now occur anytime and anywhere. In this project the authors created and used two mobile apps to support the learning needs of novice programming students enrolled in an introductory programming course. Initial results from surveys and tests indicated positive impact on student learning and engagement.

Install anywhere tutorial and reference guide by Zero G Team

The first part of any application that the end user will see is the installer. While the part of the program that gets the application onto the users system may not seem that complicated, it can be just as difficult to write as the rest of the application. This is where deployment software comes in. These programs create installers that can be customized by the programmer, while doing all the underlying difficult work itself. This new book provides full instruction in how to use InstallAnywhere, the leading installation application in the field. The book covers everything from How to Build your First Installer to how to expand the programs capabilities yourself. It covers all four editions of InstallAny where, and makes clear which features are available in which edition. It begins with a basic tutorial and explains the essential wizard features of the program, before providing a quick reference section and detailed description of how to use the advanced designer. This book can serve as an instruction manual for those just learning the program, or as a reference guide for the experienced developer.

Analysis goal expression language

This paper presents the abstract representation of Goal Expression Language (GEL). GEL is a very simple language used to specify analysis goals for an object-oriented design. This language is close to natural language and hence the learning factor is very low. GEL is part of a formal framework designed for the specification and analysis of objectoriented designs (FSAF). GEL can be used to express analysis goals for the static and dynamic behavior analysis of the design. This paper describes the basic components of GEL, how and where they can be used and also provides examples for demonstration. This abstract representation is the first step towards the formal semantics of GEL