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A novel course concept to enable master's degree students to acquire research skills is described as an experience report. A hybrid, inquiry-based format was developed to simulate each phase of writing and presenting a research paper at a scientific conference. Students self-organized into groups to conduct each phase of the research process to conduct a research project for a scientific topic, bionic computation. Weekly group meetings with the instructor were conducted via video conference. Students learned to formulate research questions, write abstracts, acquire experimental data and evaluate open-source libraries and tools to build their own experimental models. An in-house, mini-conference was held in person, in which each group held a presentation of their work. At the end of the semester, a retrospective was held to reflect on students' experiences and summarize the lessons they have learned. After the course, slight majority of the students stated that they could imagine writing a paper about their master's theses and taking part in a real conference. [For the full proceedings, see ED636095.]

The paper explores current learning approaches. The authors present the Trigger-Based Discussion-Oriented Continuous learning model (TbDoC) that focuses on creating a continuous learning experience over the online and off-line (on-campus) learning environments. The model aims to create a more engaging learning environment that encourages discussion and increases the ability of students to be independent learners. The proposed learning model utilizes an adapted version of the Hook model, the simplification aspect of the Fogg behavior model, and a socio-educational approach to learning. The model starts with the lecturer sending the students an email on the night prior to the lecture. The email contains a set of questions related to the lecture material. The students are prompted to search for answers to the questions and in doing so they are preparing for the lecture. On the next day during the lecture, the lecturer begins to direct the student-to-lecturer discussion. The lecture material is fully uncovered by the students with the help of the lecturer through the discussion. The qualitative behaviour observations showed positive impact of the model on the students and the learning environment. It was observed that students became more independent learners and were more motivated to engage in the discussions. [For the full proceedings, see ED636095.]

Due the wideness of the term Physical Computing, there is a need for a better structure of this topic. This paper is about an approach of structuring this field by finding attributes of different physical computing devices which can be used in class. Those attributes are meant to enforce teachers as well as researchers to analyze different devices from a pedagogical perspective in order to use those devices in class and use their full educational potential. [For the full proceedings, see ED636095.]

Presentation documents have been increasingly used not only as supplementary presentation materials but also as contents for investigative learning. In learning a presentation document, learners generally need to select a number of slides from the document, which describe what they want to learn or should learn. However, it is not so easy to find out the slides to be learnt since what each slide represents is not concisely stated and what connections exist between the adjacent slides are not explicitly expressed. They accordingly take more time for learning and finish learning with incomplete knowledge. In order to address this issue, this paper introduces a map called slidemap for visualizing the logical connections between the slides. This map helps learners identify the sequence of slides to be learnt from the presentation document and grasp the structure embedded in the document in a shorter time. This paper also demonstrates a tool for presentation slides-based investigative learning with slidemap. In addition, this paper reports a case study involving 16 participants with the tool, whose purpose was to ascertain whether using slidemap could be more beneficial for understanding the presentation document than using PowerPoint user interface. The results of the study show the effect of increasing learning time and visiting frequency for slides to be learnt, and promoting learners' understanding of presentation documents in a shorter time. [For the full proceedings, see ED621108.]

The paper shares the results of the process of forming a cross-disciplinary collaborative team and using a user-centered design framework to co-create a self-directed, self-paced, personalized, flexible learning environment as an alternative approach to preparing PK-8 preservice teachers to teach computational thinking. It is part of a larger project that attempts to respond to the need to create a computer science curriculum within a credentialing learning environment.

This study aims to explore an educational learning environment that supports students to learn conceptual modelling with the unified modelling language (UML). In this study, we call the describing models "UML programming." In this paper, we show an educational UML programming environment for science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM) related subjects (especially for Technology or Engineering) in schools, which are able to apply from elementary school to university. At first, we explain why, what, and how doing the UML programming. In this study, we use a state machine diagram for UML programming. To draw this model, the students just put some states in rectangular shape and transitions in arrow shape. Two types of educational model notations in state machine diagram are introduced. Then, some advanced functions of the SRPS are described. They are an educational model editor, and management of users, learning tasks and models submitted by students. Next, two case studies with the SRPS are shown. One case study is adopted to the summer camp for 5th- and 6th-grade students. The participants were 20 students and were engaged in 4 hours workshop. We used a car-type robot with two DC motors, a one-touch sensor, and one infrared sensor connected to a micro:bit. The other case study is a formal technology class at one Japanese public junior high school. One teacher and five classes worked on UML programming for traffic lights. Each class had 20 9th-grade students. One student at this school was given a traffic light robot with three Light-emitting diode (LED) lights, a one-touch sensor, and one infrared sensor connected to a micro:bit. Finally, on the basis of these two case studies using our environment, we discuss the potential for innovative STEAM education with UML programming.

This paper proposes the design of an ontology of multiple programming languages and give three examples to show the methodology. Our ontology aims to summarize the core of computational thinking logic by elaborating the concepts of three object-oriented programming languages in the industry: Python, Java, and C#. Therefore, the construction of the ontology lies not only on these three programming languages but also on their common concepts. This kind of ontology design facilitates the ontology extension and merging when concepts of other programming languages are added in the future. This ontology could be used to not only provide a guideline for any research work focusing on computational thinking education but also describe the common concept of visual programming tools and existing programming languages. Based on this ontology, an adaptive tutoring system intended to provide learners with personalized programming exercises, is under development.

As we talked with school teachers about the use of physical computing systems in class, one major drawback of these systems became obvious: almost nobody--next to enthusiastic autodidacts--has been able to tell us on an abstract basis for which educational purposes a certain physical computing system can be used, i.e. in a goal-oriented way. This insight lead to the approach to structure the field of physical computing systems with the overall goal to make it easier for teachers to improve their lectures due integrating physical computing systems into computer science education. The aim of this paper is to structure the field, to find categories and to show how existing devices can be integrated into the founded structure.

The automatic code generation is the process of generating source code snippets from a program, i.e., code for generating code. Its importance lies in facilitating software development, particularly important is helping in the implementation of software designs such as engineering diagrams, in such a case, automatic code generation copes with the problem of how to obtain code from a graphic representation, for instance an UML diagram or a Relational Diagram. Some advantages of automatic code generation are: a) to obtain the source code more quickly and to do it with lower margins of error; b) it is promising to be applied in teaching contexts, whilst provide instructors with a tool to teach, the expected results of assignments can be assessed by comparing the results of students and the automatic generated code. Furthermore, one of the most frequently tasks in classrooms when teaching relational databases is the design of Entity-Relationship Diagrams which eventually become SQL code. The manual transition from an Entity-Relationship Diagram to SQL code is a time-consuming process and requires of a skilled eye to be successfully performed. In this paper, we present "DerSql," an extension of the DIA Diagrammer, a well-known free software engineering tool, to automatically generate SQL code from an Entity-Relationship Diagrams. The results are tested for the case of 1 -- 1 and 1 -- n arities relationships. We consider that "DerSql" represents a remarkable tool for teaching while it is a promising advance in developing DIA as a 4th Generation software engineering application. [For the full proceedings, see ED638044.]

Web-based investigative learning is a form of learning where learners investigate Web resources to construct knowledge on a question. In our previous work, we have designed a learning model and a cognitive tool named iLSB to support learners in expanding the initial question into sub-questions so as to deepen and widen their investigation, and in creating their own learning scenario. The learning model consists of two processes of "knowledge construction" and "knowledge linearization". Learners are expected to construct knowledge using iLSB in the former process, and to linearize their knowledge to prepare a paper for report on their investigation in the latter process In this paper, we focus on how to help learners to make a summary of the paper by means of graphic organizers, which embed five types of information structure in expository text. This paper demonstrates how iLSB allows learners to build text structure of a summary with graphic organizers. We also report a case study whose purpose was to assess the effectiveness of it. The results suggest that graphic organizers function effectively as a scaffold for building comprehensive summary with fewer efforts.

Visualizations have become more complex in recent years so that users need to learn how to use these systems. Onboarding systems can help users to learn how to interact with a visualization efficiently. Simple tutorials are often not sufficient. There are still open questions on how to design such onboarding systems. So far, a few usability studies have been conducted to clarify this issue. We decided to adopt an approach using sketching. We conducted a study with 29 participants. Possible users of onboarding systems were asked to develop prototypes of an onboarding system based on sketches. The process of developing these prototypes and the results were analyzed in a qualitative study. We can show that onboarding systems should follow a step-by-step approach and be integrated into the visualization. In addition, it seems that questions, tasks, and examples should be part of an onboarding system, so that users can try out how to use the system on their own. [For the full proceedings, see ED636095.]

E-exams used in higher education can accommodate a range of assignment types that have traditionally been conducted with pen-and-paper. However, one issue that remains a challenge is proper support of sketching in larger, generic e-exams systems. Different types of sketching assignment demand input devices suited to the specific type of problem-solving. Adopting an e-exam system may involve compromises in terms of restricted opportunities to use sketching assignments as part of the e-exam that affect the students' performance or their experience of the e-exam. This paper presents a comparison of 77 students' performance and preferences with three different input devices (a mouse, a graphical tablet, and a touchpad) when solving sketching assignments from three different computer science courses. The study focused on capturing the students' perspective, and the findings include identified benefits and challenges associated with using the three different input devices during sketching. [For the full proceedings, see ED621557.]

Providing opportunities for students to work on real-world software development projects for real customers is critical to prepare students for the IT industry. Such projects help students to understand what they will face in the industry and experience real customer interaction and challenges in collaborative work. To provide this opportunity in an academic environment and enhance the learning and multicultural teamwork experience, the University of Oulu, Finland offers the software factory (SWF) project. This paper presents the design of the SWF course and the learning environment and assessment techniques, and it discusses the importance of reflective learning diaries and serious games. Additionally, this paper examines factors in the SWF learning environment that affect student learning in the SWF course. Survey data were collected from the last six years of SWF projects. The results show that students consider the SWF to be a good collaborative learning environment that helps them achieve academic triumphs and enhances various professional skills. The learning diaries are effective for increasing students' learning experiences as well as providing an opportunity for teaching staff to monitor students' progress and offer better facilitation. These results are helpful for academic institutions and industry when developing such a learning environment. [For the complete proceedings, see ED608557.]

In this paper we present a model for designing professional courses in a blended learning context as a tool to help the interaction between students, teachers and learning resources. This model aims to promote new concepts, new approaches and new strategies that have been changing the paradigm of teaching and learning. To develop a course based on these objectives, a systematic process, driven by a series of well-defined phases and activities, is required to help us to effectively develop high-quality applications. The research presented here focuses on an improved design model in a blended learning context and consists of four main phases: requirements definition, planning, design of learning activities, implementation, and evaluation. The whole process begins with an analysis of the students and the characteristics of the environment. Content analysis is conducted to explore the structure of the course. The identification of learning events, learning units, and instructional methods are included in the design of learning activities. As evaluation is a critical factor, this model incorporates a questionnaire, whose purpose is to ensure a well-designed blended learning course. This questionnaire tries to answer the key points that determine the structure of the course and to check the satisfaction of the learners with the context taught. One of the main contributions of this research is allowing the requalification of professionals who meet the needs of professional staff in Information and communications technology (ICT). [For the full proceedings, see ED621892.]

The purpose of this paper is to investigate students' engagement in computational thinking (CT) and programming with MATLAB when solving a mathematical task in a programming course at the undergraduate level. The data collection method is participant observation of three groups of three students presented with a mathematical task to solve. The study uses a deductive-inductive analysis strategy based on the interplay between the theoretical framework and the empirical data. The results reveal that engaging students in CT for mathematical problem-solving is challenging for many reasons: Lack of mathematical thinking (MT), insufficient experience with CT, and more importantly lack of deeper connection between CT and MT. Conclusions are drawn from the results to promote mathematical problem-solving by means of CT and MT at the undergraduate level. [For the full proceedings, see ED621108.]

The technologies and online supports that can offer students study opportunities have increased a lot in recent years, but often students do not use computers or mobile devices in school and, in general, for educational purposes. The Action of the University of Turin, within the "Ragazzi Connessi" project, proposes strategies for school recovery in Mathematics which involve the introduction of an online service built around an integrated Moodle platform with an advanced computing environment, an automatic assessment system and a web conference service, which enable the use of innovative didactics methodologies. The project involved teachers and students from three different secondary schools in the city of Genoa. This paper shows the main aspects of the platform and the strategies for school recovery developed inside the Action, in particular mathematics recovery path for students, carried out entirely online. [For the full proceedings, see ED621620.]

The authors are developing and using a fill-in workbook system that allows faculty members to ascertain the attitude of all students to classes including students who are not active, and to improve lectures through well-timed and appropriate actions. In this paper, in order to help teachers improve lessons and teaching materials, and to help students review their own learning attitude, we propose functions for retrospective review. We focus on unfocused time, page transitions, number of keyboard operations and number of mouse clicks to extract the learning attitude of each student during the class. This function divides student's learning attitude into five categories, i.e. following the class and concentrated on it, following but not concentrated, jumping ahead, falling behind, and not participating. The system also provides visualization of changes in learning attitude during the class. It can be used for teacher's and students' retrospective review after the lecture.

A required undergraduate computer science 15-week project course at North Carolina State University, Department of Computer Science, USA, has grown rapidly in 29 years from serving 3 student teams to up to 39 teams. To maintain the integrity of the award-winning program and to facilitate the collaboration of hundreds of students in an academic year, the use of digital platforms to augment the face-to-face experience has become necessary. The use of commercial tools (Slack, Zoom, Google Workspace, and Panopto) are described. Customized digital tools to facilitate a feedback loop for student team assignments and to monitor student participation are also outlined. Balancing face-to-face advising with the creative and consistent use of appropriate digital platforms is a necessity for teaching and monitoring effective student collaboration. [For the full proceedings, see ED636095.]

This study reports an impact assessment of the basic Arduino programming training conducted among select Junior High School Students in a National High School in Cagayan De Oro City. The Focus Group Discussion sessions and survey questionnaires via goggle form complemented the content of the impact study table. The researchers aimed to determine the impact of the training towards the perception of the trainees in programming, skills development and learning gain. Furthermore, the training program used was evaluated by both trainers and trainees in terms of content, strategies and activities used. Research results showed the respondents' negative perception on Arduino programming yet manifested positive views on the training for programming skills development and enhancement of learning. The training material was rated high ranging from format to organization and content. [For the full proceedings, see ED639633.]

The COVID-19 epidemic had caused one of the most significant disruptions to the global education system. Many educational institutions faced sudden pressure to switch from face-to-face to online delivery of courses. The conventional classes are no longer the primary means of delivery; instead, online education and resources have become the prominent approach. With the increasing demand for supplementary course materials to fulfill the needs of each area of study, students began to use search engines and online resources that contain discussions, practical demonstrations, and tutorial videos to aid students in their studies and course work. This study addresses the underlying challenges of retrieving relevant online educational materials by introducing an intelligent agent for semantic data mining. It works as middleware infrastructure that allow context-aware data processing and mining. YouTube was used to assess the consistency of the proposed model since it returns a large number of results in its search pool. The results showed that using the extraction of topics method, the similarities scores with the proposed model provided favorable results. Furthermore, an improvement in video ranking and sorting was realized. According to the findings, using this method provided users with a more productive and reliable study experience. [For the full proceedings, see ED639633.]

A Prolog program consists of a set of facts and rules rather than imperative statements, commonly used in most other programming languages. Therefore, the Prolog language is used to encode logic, from which the inference engine deduces logical conclusions. In this article, we argue that the use of the Prolog language can be useful to help students become familiar with mathematics or more broadly, any problem-solving based discipline. [For the full proceedings, see ED638044.]

The increased focus on computational thinking has led to the acceptance of computer programming as one of the ways of teaching computational thinking. In 2020, Japan introduced programming education in elementary schools. To understand the current situation of parental involvement at the beginning of programming education, this study aimed to know parents' experience in being involved with programming education and their beliefs that motivated them. Parents with children in elementary school were requested to complete a survey with regard to experience in behaviors related to programming education. The outcome showed parent involvement is minimum in programming learning. [For the full proceedings, see ED638044.]

This paper presents a study which aims to provide an understanding of the impact of using the components of a digital mobile-based behavior change intervention (mBCI) to support critical thinking skills during university student research projects. The digital behavior change interventions are tools and techniques designed to induce behavior change and provide continuous support and tailored advice for willing learners through web and mobile platforms. We investigated the impact and the usability of the designed tools by analyzing self-reflections and the users on the digital mobile-based behavior change intervention components. An instrument was used to examine the differences in the self-perceived improvement of critical thinking between the intervention group and the control group before and after working on real research projects for two months. The results of comparing post surveys for the independent samples showed that the intervention group had a statistically significant perceived improvement in critical thinking than the control group. The findings indicated encouraging and positive feedback on the use of mobile intervention components to promote critical thinking when supervising research projects.[For the complete proceedings, see ED601100.]

Among recent e-Learning Pedagogical Strategies, gaming and crisis-simulation games are increasingly used in recent years in university-learning and Blended-courses as an out-of-context effective tool for role-playing and education, especially in Law Schools and Business Schools. Gaming covers several sub-fields (war-games; Law School Mock-Trials; Tailor-made educational games in Business; playing commercials-off-the-shelf games; programming and code-learning; games to promote social inclusion of marginalized groups; Model U.N. and crisis-simulations) and are recently enhanced by the impact of using multi-modality and on-line education to apply several concurrent modes of presentation/communications, which are now being applied also in Political Sciences and Communications courses. In recent years, the much-touted future role of the Net-Generation of children and youth who grew-up with computer games should find a natural educational outlet in gaming, but this has been limited to the entertainment field, rather than university education, or in computer coding and programming, where gaming (both on-line and face-to-face) has only marginal effects, due to students' inability to grasp theoretical concepts, poor preparation or poor motivation. Thus, despite already existing methods of gamification in education, its promise as a didactic method in schools and universities is still at its beginnings. This paper analyzes as case-studies the emerging impact of gaming simulations in Political Sciences Blended-courses at Saint Leo University, USA and in Communications courses at the Pedagogical University of Kraków, Poland. [For the full proceedings, see ED621557.]

The purpose of the article is to identify conditions for the effective use of visual modeling tools that can help reduce the difficulty level of solving problems during the teaching high school students programming. Visual modeling tools are a type of software that allows you to create visual abstractions that reproduce concepts and objects of the real world with their relationships, which can help in solving the problem. In this paper, we focused on preformal models based on intellect- and concept-maps. The article gives a classification and describes techniques for using various visual modeling tools to solve problem tasks. Formed skills of working with such tools will allow students to produce, represent and express independently their knowledge. In addition, these tools allow structuring the process of solving the problem, optimizing the time for solving each stage of solving a problem task. The article presents the results of comparing the learning outcomes of the control and experimental groups, which show that the proposed visual modeling tools can help in solving the programming problem tasks. [For the complete proceedings, see ED608557.]

The problem of development of algorithmic competence of students -- future Computer Science teachers as a component of information competence is investigated. The aim of the study is to identify the conditions for effective algorithmization and programming learning, involving a modular representation of the content, blended learning, allocated in accordance with the B. Bloom's taxonomy classes of problems in Computer Science and Methods of its Teaching and the use of electronic learning resources. This paper specifies the concept of algorithmic competence of university students--students' readiness to design algorithms and programs, their use in professional activities in the process of Computer Science teaching, electronic learning resources (ELR) design, self-education in the field of Computer Science. Classes of problems for algorithmic competence development in accordance with B. Bloom's taxonomy (knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation) are identified. Classes of problems correspond to ELR of a certain structure and content. The efficiency of ELR use in students' algorithmic competence development is statistically confirmed. [For the complete proceedings, see ED608557.]

This paper presents teaching strategies and methods, applicable in modern blended environments for learning of programming. Given the fact that the manner of applying teaching strategies always depends on the specific requirements of a certain area of learning, the paper outlines the basic principles of teaching in programming courses, as well as the possibilities for applying modern teaching strategies in this area. Blended learning of programming is gaining dominance in higher education, through combining traditional and modern technologies and teaching methodologies in classroom and via the internet: in traditional courses--with lessons in the classroom and regular additional forms of teaching via the Internet and in distance courses--with regular lessons and additional forms of teaching in the classroom/via the internet. This paper describes teaching strategies which are implemented within the blended programming traditional and distance courses in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering of Applied Studies in Belgrade: Programming fundamentals, Programming languages and Object oriented design. The methods recommended for carrying out teaching strategies in this area have been described: modernized teaching strategies and the increasingly popular strategies of collaborative, situated and self-directed learning. Considering all the above, this paper can in fact motivate teachers in the given area to improve their teaching and adjust it to modern generations of students. [For the complete proceedings, see ED579395.]

UAE Higher education institutions were among the first institutions in the Middle East to adopt Blackboard Learn (BBLearn) as the learning management system for their e-learning activities. Regardless of the large investments spent of BBLearn, the adoption of this system among the faculty is still slow. This qualitative case study research aimed to investigate the need for the creation of a BBLearn community of practice (CoP) in a public higher education institution in the United Arab Emirates, its anticipated benefits and its positive impact on increasing the adoption of BBLearn among the computer department faculty. A qualitative case study research methodology was used, and data was collected from faculty of the public higher education institution. The findings revealed that the faculty support the creation of a BBLearn CoP and they identified its anticipated benefits and listed them. The findings also confirmed that the creation of a BBLearn CoP will have positive impact on the adoption of BBLearn among the computer department faculty. This study confirmed the importance of communities of practice and their roles in sharing and advancing knowledge. It also revealed the need to create a BBLearn CoP to address the slow adoption of BBLearn among faculty. [For the full proceedings, see ED621108.]

Implementing remote and blended higher education courses motivated the design for new support services for autonomous learning. Thus, combining a competence-based approach and self-regulation, the COMPER project offers a service to be used in addition to the courses. It consists of a graphical presentation of the learners' competency profile (following the open learner model's approach) and a personalized resources recommendation system. To assess its usefulness and usability, we conducted a study to test the COMPER service on 181 first-year students (from a two-year university diploma in computing), in addition to practical work carried out remotely. Based on a survey (usage data and scales) analysis, our study shows that globally the learners perceive the service as useful, especially those who favor working individually. Finally, our findings showed how much attention must be paid before implementing an independent OLM into an existing learning environment, especially for learners lacking SRL competencies. [For the full proceedings, see ED621108.]

The overall project "Denken lernen - Probleme lösen" has been expanded in recent years after an initial sub-project in elementary school to include one for the lower secondary level. Schools throughout Austria were provided with the micro:bit and related materials. A training initiative for teachers was rolled out. In this article I would like to present a part of the evaluation results of this project. The investigation covers two aspects: the students' ability to solve problems and the students' opinions and views on working with the micro:bit.

Video tutorials substantially support demonstration-based training where the main goal is to enhance procedural knowledge by observing various understandable examples of performing a task. Although video tutorials are broadly popular nowadays, little attention is given to the design features of an instructional tutorial. The aim of this study is to investigate the use of cueing on video tutorials for software training. Task performance, mental effort, and self-efficacy were included as dependent variables to explain possible effects mechanisms. The experiment included 118 undergraduate students with ICT experience from a Computer Science department in Greece. All subjects viewed three video tutorials on video editing software followed by practice. The participants achieved significant learning gains, reaching moderate to high levels of success on task performance. No cueing effect was found. The discussion proposes several alternatives for improving the effectiveness of video tutorials. [For the full proceedings, see ED622227.]

Beyond cognitive competence, other abilities are relevant to labor market nowadays, including critical thinking, self confidence, teamwork and communication. It is then important to introduce in the learning process practices that contribute to both the acquirement of knowledge and the development of soft skills. A prominent answer to this challenge is the use of the collaborative learning, where students work together to solve a problem or complete a task. In this paper, we present three strategies to implement collaborative testing in class. We also evaluate the application of such strategies in a computing course in order to provide evidences of their effectiveness compared to traditional tests. We found that collaborative testing contributed not only to improve students' performance in tests, but have a positive impact on perceived learning and students' satisfaction. [For the complete proceedings, see ED600498.]

The Computational Thinking recently has been recognised as one of the basic knowledge to be developed since childhood. Coding and computers are not just programming, but tools that help students to develop problem solving skills and more deep understand of the way things work. For these reasons, great attention has been focused on this topic both from a pedagogical and technological point of view. In this paper, a first approach to Computational Thinking using Arduino is presented. To this end, some learning activities have been designed to introduce middle school students, without any experience in coding, to the process of building the algorithm from simple exercises to more complex tasks. The pilot test involved 25 subjects, many of them do not like to study mathematics, science and technology, but the results were promising. The approach was appreciated by the students and the results of the questionnaires confirmed the learning effectiveness too. [For the complete proceedings, see ED600498.]

There is a shortage of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) educated workforce in the US, especially among minority and underrepresented groups. Recruiting and retaining STEM majors has been a major problem for universities and community colleges for many years. The Computer Science department of University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) has been collaborating with three campuses of San Jacinto College (SJC) on recruiting and retention strategies. Our activities started taking off after we received a joint state grant to support our recruiting and retention activities. The grant allowed us to experiment with several pilot projects such as peer-mentoring and programming challenge. We then expanded our pilot project to include additional STEM fields and additional recruiting and retention strategies. The additional strategies included monthly Tech Fridays, annual Extended Orientation and annual STEM Challenge. We submitted a proposal to the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and received a 5-year joint grant from the STEP program of NSF with the start date of September 2013. Our NSF grant activities have been very successful. In 2016, we expanded our activities again by adding additional elements such as undergraduate research, internships, and creation of a new computer science teacher certification program. We submitted a proposal to the HSI-STEM program of the US Department of Education (DOE) with a focus on recruiting and retaining students from Hispanic or low-income families. We received a 5-year grant from DOE with a start date of October 2016. In this paper, we share our strategies and experience with conference participants, hoping that our experience will help others who are considering similar strategies for recruiting and retention of STEM majors. [For the complete proceedings, see ED579282.]

Teaching and learning programming has presented many challenges in institutions of higher learning worldwide. Teaching and learning programming require cognitive reasoning, mainly due to the fundamental reality that the underlying concepts are complex and abstract. As a result, many institutions of higher learning are faced with low success rates in programming courses. This paper presents the design and development of an interactive multimedia simulation (IMS) prototype for augmenting the teaching and learning of programming concepts. An initial requirements elicitation was conducted with the purpose of obtaining the perceptions of programming lecturers and students regarding the programming concepts that present teaching and learning difficulties. The results of this requirements elicitation informed the design and development of an IMS prototype. A design-based research methodology was used which resulted in both a practical and theoretical contribution, i.e. a fully-functional IMS and an evaluation framework for the evaluation of such simulations. [For the complete proceedings, see ED579282.]

The purpose of this study is to find ways to monitor and evaluate the user experience of learners as they use an e-learning system. To do this, we have identified several factors that allow us to measure this experience. We have designed an online measurement scale, presented as a self-administered questionnaire, specifically dedicated to e-learning platforms. With this tool, we can quickly isolate aspects that are perceived as critical, and that often require improvement actions. Finally, we tested our measurement tool over two sessions of an online course. The results of statistical analysis are very encouraging, showing that the learning platform used is considered simple by learners, flexible, secure and encouraging autonomy. The results also show that the platform has a deficit of social interaction (interactions between learners and their teachers, as well as between pairs), which should be remedied in order to improve learners' experience. [For the full proceedings, see ED621620.]

Computer Programming is believed to have effect on creativity, reasoning, analytic and mathematical skills. This cognitive development is at a cost from both ends of students and teachers of computer programming. Its abstractive nature makes it difficult to teach and learn hence, the enormous hours spent in teaching, learning and developing solutions. Consequently, the less interest among the students at all levels of education. Studies have shown various attempts to ease its teaching and learning by developing user friendly interfaces and use of course video teaching clips from seasoned programmers. However, learning and teaching programming skills remains a herculean task for student and teachers respectively. It is believed that interacting with a more tangible object can improve students' interest in developing computer programming skills. A mobile robot- a situated and embodied electronic device serves this purpose hence, the use of the device that students have more interest in interacting with in this study. In this work, an interactive program evaluation framework was developed that interact with a simulated e-puck robot on V-Rep simulator platform. The study shows an increased interest and improved performance in computer programming among Computer Science students.

Although postgraduate students are required to be self-directed, this is not always the case. The aims of this study were twofold. Firstly, we investigated whether the use of problem-based projects supported students in implementing different cryptography algorithms as part of a group assignment. Secondly, we determined to which extent the use of problem-based projects enhanced students' self-directed learning. A qualitative methodology was followed. A cohort of 21 honours students enrolled for this elective course in Information Security. Students worked mainly in small groups of two on a project. Data collection involved completion of open-ended questions regarding information security and students' previous experiences in problem-based environments, completion of project sheets and narrative reflections regarding their project work. The data were manually coded to identify certain patterns of meaning. Results showed that problem-based projects provided opportunities for learning 'useful things in life' and strengthened team members' knowledge and skills. Problem-based projects served as a catalyst for enhancing students' self-directed learning in this Information Security course, which is beneficial for addressing real-life scenarios in the Information Technology profession. Additionally, an integrated model for self-directed learning skill development in a problem-based context was proposed.

The rapid developments in educational technologies and the conditions of pandemic period provoked the academic staff and students for assessing the value of different technologies, new or existing, and for deciding how or when these technologies make sense for them to use. Due to crisis, face-to-face learning process was changed with Emergency Remote Teaching. In this article we approached the case study for university education, on the use of learning platforms, to increase reflective learning, critical reflection and concrete action of students in real life which are clear elements of transformative learning and related to the new educational paradigm -- paragogy (peer-learning). In order to have a significant outcome of our proposed solutions, we proceed in two-steps. Firstly, we detail and test some of the existing e-learning tools (platforms), and secondly, based on a focus-group experience with groups of students enrolled in computer-science Bachelor degree, we propose adapted solutions for online learning and teaching for the next academic year.

Upto now, the knowledge building influence of the fundamental communicative functions during an on-line collaborative learning (OLCL) session, i.e. argumentative, responsive, elicitative, informative and imperative have been mainly based on results from qualitative studies, results that could have been strengthened by quantitative approaches. Starting from a literature review, we formulate a dual quantitative model of an on-line collaboration knowledge building (OCKB) that described these communicative functions, and aim to validate this model in a computer science topic related OCKB with a total of n=44 participants. Corpuses are collected for manual dialog act coding and communicative function variable calculations. A regression analysis failed to provide for the hypothesized model on seven of the eight tests on the basis of quantitative data. Findings suggest the imperative communication function best explain the assessment results statistically alone and in some significance in combination with some of the other communicative functions.

The analysis of the results of scientific research has revealed the necessity to track the level of anxiety of a student while studying aspects of information security in a particular subject area. And in accordance with the results, it was necessary to justify the choice of methods for management and content of information security training in order to minimize the negative impact on the psychological state of a child of middle school age. The purpose of the research is to determine the impact of educational elements from a specific subject area related to information security guaranteeing on the level of anxiety of secondary schools students. The authors identified the need to assess the level of anxiety of students while studying aspects of information security in a particular subject area and proposed tools for tracking the level of anxiety. In the middle school, during the formation of a comprehensive idea of professional activities in the field of information security, especially at the pre-profile stage, an approach that forms the basis for the formation of the content of information security training is substantiated. It combines the knowledge from a wide range of different sciences for teaching secondary school students. The study shows that the level of situational anxiety of secondary school students while studying aspects of information security in a particular subject area can increase due to the natural reaction of the body, adapting to new potential threats for it. It was experimentally established that the level of personal anxiety as a result of assimilation of new knowledge about information security did not change both before studying the educational elements of information security in a particular subject area, and after studying them.

Teaching an online fully asynchronous information technology course that requires students to ideate, build an e-commerce website, and develop an effective business plan involves a well-developed and highly engaging course design. This paper describes the design, development, and implementation of such a course and presents information on students' learning effectiveness and challenges associated with managing a course using this approach. [For the complete proceedings, see ED579335.]

Teaching an introductory programming course to an average of 40 students while monitoring their performance can be a challenge for instructors. Preparing coding exercises with test cases and checking students' programs can prove to be time consuming at times. Moreover, programming has been known to be quite difficult for students to learn. To address these concerns, a web-based Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for C Programming called CodeChum was developed. CodeChum provides instructors with an easier way of creating programming exercises, an automated way of checking student codes and a dashboard for monitoring students' performance. CodeChum allows students to apply their skills using problem stories attached to learning outcomes, test their solutions, get instant feedback and monitor their current status through a leaderboard system. CodeChum was tested within a span of two months on 120 undergraduate students taking up introductory programming courses and 6 programming instructors from Cebu Institute of Technology- University. A usability and feedback survey for students and instructors was conducted getting inputs of their experience while using the IDE. Results of the survey show that the system was well received both by students and instructors. Moreover, with the continued use of CodeChum, data can be gathered that can be used towards learning analytics. [For the complete proceedings, see ED601080.]

One of the challenges that commencing university students in computing degree programs face is the difficulty in engaging with the abstract and complicated theories in the computing discipline. In particular, it is hard for beginner computer architecture students to visualise the link between the theory of digital logic and the behaviour of the digital circuitry. Studies have shown that improving disciplinary engagement can lead to lower student attrition rates. We aim to increase student engagement in an introductory computer architecture course by employing oversized physical logic gates in the form of logic blocks in several digital logic experiments. Using these digital logic blocks students will be able to physically interact with the circuitry and observe the outcomes of their solutions directly. Student survey results indicate that using the physical logic blocks was helpful to beginner computing students in gaining a better understanding of digital logic and digital circuits. The use of physical logic blocks was also helpful in transitioning to a more abstract digital logic drawing environment later in the course for building more advanced digital circuits. [For the complete proceedings, see ED601080.]

This article is an exploratory analysis and comparison of the demographic distributions of data collected from the 2016 New Coder Survey, with that obtained from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). In comparing the data sets, the findings suggest that overall females were more likely to engage in online self-paced coding education, particularly when they had no background or previous study in an IT discipline. This contrasted strongly with females having an existing IT qualification. When looking at ethnicity, the research identified that those students who identify as an ethnic minority were more likely to undertake formal tertiary education in IT, rather than engage in online coding study. The research also confirmed that the average age was higher, and diversity of age groups was larger for those undertaking online study, when compared with those undertaking formal tertiary study. The practical implications of this analysis to diversity in Information Technology disciplines such as computer science, and more broadly with STEM-related disciplines are discussed. [For the complete proceedings, see ED601080.]

Merging the content of learning with the motivation of games can be a successful combination, if done properly and supported by the appropriate tool. Towards this goal, we developed Diagram[character omitted]atic an environment used to gamify the in-classroom activity of designing diagrams during a lecture. Using Diagram[character omitted]atic the professor, instead of lecturing about diagrams or showing examples of such diagrams, can design short games where the students could play by competing during the lecture. Diagram[character omitted]atic is a complete environment offering to the professor a design application to create games and a management application. The management application is used for monitoring the games while students play, as well as to present the results to the students after the end of each game, or to evaluate these results after classroom time. The students may use the mobile application on their mobiles to practice by designing diagrams outside of the classroom, as well as to play a game during classroom time, but only after the professor starts this game. The environment handles the communication from students' mobiles to the professor's applications and vice versa, while the students submit their diagrams or receive the correct ones, so to proceed to follow up games. The current version of Diagram[character omitted]atic is tailored for designing flow graphs used for path testing into a higher education software engineering course, but the environment can be used in any similar case requiring the design of diagrams (e.g. math, physics, chemistry). [For the full proceedings, see ED621557.]

These proceedings contain the papers and posters of the International Conference on e-Learning (EL) 2019, which was organised by the International Association for Development of the Information Society and co-organised by the Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto, in Porto, Portugal, July 17-19, 2019. The EL 2019 conference aims to address the main issues of concern within e-Learning. This conference covers both technical as well as the non-technical aspects of e-Learning. The conference accepted submissions in the following seven main areas: (1) Organisational Strategy and Management Issues; (2) Technological Issues; (3) e-Learning Curriculum Development Issues; (4) Instructional Design Issues; (5) e-Learning Delivery Issues; (6) e-Learning Research Methods and Approaches; and (7) e-Skills and Information Literacy for Learning. [Individual papers are indexed in ERIC.]

This research explores the experiences of using Computer-based Assessments (CBA) in teaching an introductory level class called Introduction to multimedia (CIS 1503). This course is the first multimedia course in the Computer and Information Systems (CIS) department that is running at a Higher Education Institute in the Middle East (HEIME). It introduces students to various multimedia components such as 2D graphics, audio and video. The core objective of this course is to provide students with practical experience in various stages involved in the design, development and delivery of interactive multimedia content. A phenomenological approach has been chosen to help understand and explore the participants' awareness of the phenomenon under investigation and that is "Using CBA in teaching interactive multimedia classes". Three specific questions were considered. These questions were investigated from the teachers' point of view. The data explicitation process (as defined and used by (Giorgi, 2009)) resulted in forming four central themes representing the essence of the original ones. The central themes were: (1) to manage the teachers' marking load; (2) to enhance student satisfaction and attentiveness; (3) to support the management of assessments; and (4) to provide an effective archiving system for assessments and students' work. This was followed by a discussion of the opportunities and challenges arising from using CBAs in teaching this particular course. A description of the limitations within this research was also listed at the end of the study. [For the complete proceedings, see ED608557.]

Due to increasing digitization in all aspects of life, the demand for qualified software development professionals continues to increase. Students from underrepresented groups, such as first generation students from non-academic families, minorities, single parents and women represent an underutilized pool of untapped potential talent. The question arises as to which unique perspectives computer science graduates from underrepresented groups can bring to software development companies. In addition to programming skills, non-technical competencies, such as foreign language abilities, intercultural communication, creativity, conflict management, team-building and organizational skills are vital for success in diverse, international project teams. A large job market database for new graduates, developed for a consortium of universities in Bavaria, Germany, is analyzed using machine learning tools. Career competencies desired by recruiting companies are compared to potential advantages offered by computer science graduates from underrepresented groups. [For the complete proceedings, see ED608557.]

Far-reaching technological changes are shaping our society and the ways in which we work. A key 21st -century skill for taking advantage of those changes may be computational thinking (CT). CT aims at enabling humans to carry out more effective problem solving by utilizing concepts of computing and computer technology. For a successful integration of CT into curricula, however, it is important to take assessment into account. We review two instruments that capture CT: the Computational Thinking Test (CTt), a performance test, and the Computational Thinking Scales (CTS), that relies on self-assessment. We have adapted both instruments from English to German. Using a sample of 202 upper-secondary students from Switzerland, we provide further evidence on the validity of both instruments. To this end, we apply item response theory and confirmatory factor analysis. Furthermore, we evaluate the relationship between CTt and CTS. Both instruments show good properties and may be suitable for assessing CT in German-speaking countries at the secondary level. [For the complete proceedings, see ED608557.]