Tracy L. Lewis

Developing a computer science-specific learning taxonomy

Blooms taxonomy of the cognitive domain and the SOLO taxonomy are being increasingly widely used in the design and assessment of courses, but there are some drawbacks to their use in computer science. This paper reviews the literature on educational taxonomies and their use in computer science education, identifies some of the problems that arise, proposes a new taxonomy and discusses how this can be used in application-oriented courses such as programming.

Are technical and soft skills required?: the use of structural equation modeling to examine factors leading to retention in the cs major

This research investigates the effects of technical (i.e. technical ability) and soft (i.e. emotional intelligence) skills on CS program retention. Structural equation modeling revealed that affinity (satisfaction with the major) was the most important factor in determining intention to leave the CS major. Unexpectedly, technical skills were the least important (compared to soft skills). Gender differences were also examined. Results indicate significantly different effects on affinity and intent to stay across gender. For example, when examining female CS students, both technical and soft skills were significantly related to affinity which in turn was significantly related to intent to stay; with soft skills providing the stronger relationship. For males, affinity for the CS major was only significantly related to emotional intelligence. Technical skills were not significantly related to affinity. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Fun learning Stagecast Creator: an exercise in minimalism and collaboration

We are attempting to create a cross-generational learning community who will work together to design, construct, and discuss simulations of community topics. The simulations are built with Stagecast Creator, a state-of-the art visual programming environment. As part of this larger project, we have developed minimalist training materials for middle school students. This paper reports a formative evaluation of these training materials, in which groups of students worked together on two related tutorial modules. In general the students were successful in their work with Creator, needing little aid from the experimenters, and showing evidence of enjoyment. Our aim is to develop materials that will attract participation and enable students to spend their free time and play with this environment, and as a by-product of having fun, learn more about visual programming.

The computer science debate: it's a matter of perspective

This paper examines some of the ongoing identity challenges for the computer science community: definition, purpose, pedagogy, and curriculum drivers. This research contends that there are three primary social theories driving ones perspective of computer science: resource based theory, resource dependency theory, and social exchange theory. A conceptual framework is presented that examines the likely definition, purpose, pedagogy, and curriculum drivers for each perspective. The framework was evaluated in a qualitative study using the e-mails threads from a discussion on the SIGCSE listserv. The results of this study and the implications of future of computer science are discussed.

Building software engineering teams that work: The impact of dominance on group conflict and Performance outcomes

This project is designed to build on theories of team composition and proposes an innovative way of assigning students to teams. Currently, professors are using a variety of team assignment techniques to form software engineering teams. This research believes that a contributing factor to the undesired outcomes (i.e., low performing teams and high levels of conflict) of software engineering teams is that the teams were not formed using ldquorelevant and salientrdquo criteria. To address the relevance issue, we test the impact of problem solving preferences (a sub-set of the MBTI scale) on group conflict and performance. We then test the extent to which the numerical dominance (i.e., salience) of problem solving styles influences conflict and performance. It was found that dominance of problem solving styles is related to negative team outcomes. We conclude by discussing ways in which instructors and team members may minimize negative team outcomes when there is no choice other than forming a team with one dominant problem solving preference.

Determining students' intent to stay in it programs: an empirical model

Current declining enrollment and attrition trends in IT programs have inspired an emerging body of literature: IT student retention. To shed some insight on whom leaves and stays in IT programs, the authors developed a new construct, computing resilience, and explored its influence on intent to stay and emotional intelligence. This study also investigated the linkage between ethnic identity, emotional intelligence, and IT student intent to stay. It was found that ethnic identity and computing resilience influence student retention through emotional intelligence. Implications for these findings for IT faculty, students, and administrators are discussed.

The effects of individual differences on CS2 course performance across universities

Research is presented that examined the effects of various measures of prior computer science experience and cognitive abilities on overall performance in a CS2 course. Participants selected from the CS2 course at two southeastern state universities were used within this study, resulting in a sample size of 161 (School A, n = 76; School B, n = 85). School A is a mid-sized comprehensive university and School B is a large research-intensive university.Self-reported data were collected on measures of experience in object-oriented processing, UNIX programming, web design, computing platforms, and various CS experience. Further, cognitive abilities measures of spatial orientation, visualization, logical reasoning, and flexibility were administered.The results show that the schools significantly differed on all measures of cognitive ability and most measures of prior computer science experience. The schools also differed on the extent to which these measures were related to overall course performance. The results suggest that, for school A, the cognitive ability visualization and the prior computer science experience measure of OO processing were significantly related to course performance. However, when examining school B, no measures were found significant.

A community learns design: towards a pattern language for novice visual programmers

We conducted a one-day design workshop in which residents of a community collaborated in learning about and designing community-related visual simulations (to be implemented in Stagecast Creator). An analysis of their design ideas and concerns revealed several visual design patterns that were apparent even in these very early stages of simulation design. This analysis helps us to characterize the design constructs people may be able to specify or learn when first encountering visual simulation design tasks and projects. In this paper, we introduce the concept of patterns and their relationship to visual programming and present several visual programming language patterns mined from the projects developed at the community simulation design workshop. Finally, we discuss how these patterns might be incorporated into minimalist tutorials that we are developing to introduce community residents to visual simulation design.

Integrating Live Projects Into Computing Curriculum

It is well understood and has been well documented that there is much to gain by using live projects in the computer science classroom [1-13]. Live projects include those that serve a real client with a real problem as well as those those that integrate live datasets. However, the use of live projects has always come with a variety of challenges including supporting the project once it is complete, providing secure and safe access to large data sets, adjusting live client expectations, and limiting the scope of a project to the context of a single term and within the learning outcomes. The purpose of this special session is to provide attendees an introduction to and examples of the way that live projects have been integrated throughout the computing curriculum at Radford University.

Training to persist in computing careers

Funded by a SIGCSE Special Project grant, Training to Persist in Computing Careers is a hands-on resource for faculty interested in incorporating soft skills training in IT-related courses. Soft skills include such abilities as controlling and using ones emotions (emotional intelligence), dealing with team issues and stress (coping strategies) and using business-appropriate language. These skills are increasingly recognized as key to success in IT-related disciplines [1, 5].