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This paper describes and evaluates aspects of a professional development programme for existing CS teachers in secondary schools (PLAN C) which was designed to support teachers at a time of substantial curricular change. The paper’s particular focus is on the formation of a teacher professional development network across several hundred teachers and a wide geographical area. Evidence from a series of observations and teacher surveys over a two-year period is analysed with respect to the project’s programme theory in order to illustrate not only whether it worked as intended, by why. Results indicate that the PLAN C design has been successful in increasing teachers’ professional confidence and appears to have catalysed powerful change in attitudes to learning. Presentation of challenging pedagogical content knowledge and conceptual frameworks, high-quality teacher-led professional dialogue, along with the space for reflection and classroom trials, triggered examination of the teachers’ own current ...

This paper examines the needs of students who, in the past, may have chosen to major in computer science or some other aspect of information technology as a way of achieving the goal of finding a job in the computer graphics field. The growth in computer graphics has lead to increased job opportunities in the industry. However, these jobs require fluency in both art and computing that an individual course or even a sequence of several courses cannot provide. In the past, there has been discussion of curricula for isolated graphics courses as part of a BS/CS degree, but industry demands more preparation than what one or two courses can deliver. This paper surveys and compares the two extant Bachelor of Science degrees in Computer Graphics with the intent of encouraging dialog on the possibility of a four-year curriculum supporting this discipline.

Through a cross‐disciplinary approach, two researchers solved the problem of poorly written term papers in the computer science curriculum. Using software engineering techniques, students produced focused, well‐organized, well‐formatted papers, some of publishable quality. The three‐step assignment taught time and research management, organization, and accepted formatting style. The researchers developed supplemental materials to help students create and then assess their work. Any Computer Science teacher at any university level can use the material if a Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program exists or if the instructor has sufficient rhetorical skills.

To support teachers to implement Computer Science curricula into classrooms from the very first year of school, teachers, schools and organisations seek quality curriculum resources to support implementation and teacher professional development. Until now, many Computer Science resources and outreach initiatives have targeted K-12 school-age children, with the intention to engage children and increase interest, rather than to formally teach concepts and skills. What is the educational quality of existing Computer Science resources and to what extent are they suitable for classroom learning and teaching? In this paper, an assessment framework is presented to evaluate the quality of online Computer Science resources. Further, a semi-systematic review of available online Computer Science resources was conducted to evaluate resources available for classroom learning and teaching and to identify gaps in resource availability, using the Australian curriculum as a case study analysis. The findings reveal a predo...

This paper reports on a qualitative study that examined how pair programming shapes the experience of secondary school girls taking IT as a subject, with respect to their enjoyment of programming and the subject itself. The study involved six Grade 11 girls who were doing solo programming in Grade 10 and pair programming in their following Grade. The results showed that the girls enjoyed the subject more when programming in pairs due to improved comprehension of the task. They especially enjoyed the socialization and communication brought about by pair programming. The assistance, support, motivation, focus and encouragement they received from partners when stuck or while fixing errors made the programming experience more enjoyable for them. The increased enjoyment brought about by pair programming resulted in the perception of greater learning in the subject IT and also to greater interest in it. It also led to greater persistence in dealing with problems. Pair programming should be implemented right fro...

Many universities have experienced an increase in the intake of students and at the same time cuts in the budgets for teaching. Many teachers have discovered, for a number of reasons, that they have to adjust their teaching or even a course with short notice. These facts pose a challenge to the teachers' agility in adapting to changes—and in doing it in a cost-efficient way. We propose eXtreme Teaching as a framework that allows teachers to focus on experimenting with and improving their teaching techniques without compromising quality. The framework and the associated practices provide quick, accurate feedback that teachers can act on. eXtreme Teaching will allow better student learning, stronger relationships with the students, increased interaction and development of the staff involved, less risk—and probably happier staff members. In this paper, we will describe the eXtreme Teaching framework and discuss and motivate its background.

This paper describes an empirical study that investigated the knowledge that Computer Science students have about the extent of their own previous learning. The study compared self-generated estimates of performance with actual performance on a data structures quiz taken by undergraduate students in courses requiring data structures as a prerequisite. The study was contextualized and grounded within a research paradigm in Psychology called calibration of knowledge that suggests that self-knowledge across a range of disciplines is highly unreliable. Such self-knowledge is important because of its role in meta-cognition, particularly in cognitive self-regulation and monitoring, as well as in the credence that instructors give to student self-reports. Our results indicated that Computer Science student self-estimates are highly correlated with performance, more so for estimates provided after the performance than before. This high level of calibration, however, was likely the result of a number of conditions...

Independent of the content and placement of the discrete mathematics course in the computer science curriculum, a common goal is to improve the students’ ability to read and communicate mathematical or technical material. This paper describes a teaching format for the discrete mathematics course that fosters this goal. Instead of lecturing, the instructor responds to questions and asks questions over material the students have read. In periodic problem sessions, student groups polish and present problem solutions for the rest of the class to critique. This approach not only improves the technical reading and communication skills of the students, but involves students more actively in the total learning process.