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Over 60 years of technology development, transformation of educational policy and curriculum innovation in Ireland have resulted in the introduction of the Computer Science (CS) subject in Post-Primary (PP) Education. CS has always been conceived digitally and the Digital Learning Experiences (DLE) enacted through its curriculum are strongly interconnected to the opportunities and limitations offered by Digital Spaces (DS). However, key challenges have been identified for the successful implementation of CSE, from teachers' digital competencies and educational strategies in the classroom to learners' varying experiences of CSE. Through a systematic literature review of the educational policies and practices in Ireland's Educational System, this paper documents the digital evolution from the 1960s accounting for the CS curriculum. The literature review identifies key themes in how DS have been conceptualised through CSE, responding to learners' needs and teachers' skills and competencies, informed by emerging societal demands by providing evidence on the disparity between educational policy and practice for DS. Building upon the identified themes, this paper emphasises the importance of the design and implementation of DLE in DS such as the CS subject that considers historical lessons learned to respond to the uncertainties of the digital future.

Access Foundation Programmes are a widening-participation initiative designed to encourage engagement in higher education among underrepresented groups, including those with socioeconomic and educational disadvantage. In particular, mature students enrolled in these programmes experience greater difficulties making the transition to tertiary education, especially when they opt to study disciplines traditionally considered difficult. Computer programming is perceived as a traditionally difficult subject with typically lower pass rates and progression rates than other subjects. This paper describes the first of a three-cycle action research study examining the perceived effects of a structured Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) Programme for mature students enrolled in a computer science programming module for an Access Foundation Programme in an Irish University. The focus of this qualitative study was to evaluate the perceived effect of a PAL programme on learning and whether it offered a positive learning support structure. Findings from our study suggest that PAL programmes have an overall positive effect on subject comprehension as well as enhanced learner confidence for mature Access Foundation students. Furthermore, PAL sessions offered students a support structure that helped with their transition and acculturation to tertiary education. This study also highlights the importance the PAL leader's role has on the perceived effectiveness of the PAL sessions as well as the impact of the students' shared history on the near-peer bond. The study concludes that the implementation of PAL programmes for Access Foundation Programmes has the potential to offer mature students a supportive learning environment and to improve their learning experience.

The launch of a Computer Science curriculum specification in upper secondary schools in Ireland in 2018 was a landmark and a historic development in Irish education. Addressing the historical policy decisions adopted towards establishing the specification, this paper presents an analysis of developments from the 1970s as revealed in key policies and other documents. Positioning the policy change within the context of influences, context of policy text production and within the context of practices, the paper presents an overview of the Irish Computer Science specification. Alongside the background to the evolution in computer science education over the period, the article takes into account the national and cultural contexts and narrates the journey travelled to arrive at this pivotal position. Developments in a global context are presented in comparison with curricula in other countries and some similarities and differences identified. The article uncovers consequences of the specification for the national curriculum, key skills integration and computer science teacher preparation. The article provides an important analysis of the policy trajectory of computer science in Ireland based on a visibly relevant corpus of documents tracing the different stages of this policy and comparing it to similar experiences implemented in other European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer Science and programming courses are generally considered to be difficult, particularly for students in the first year of a third-level course. As such, it is an important role to support these students as they begin their education in order to better cement their learning, and to reduce drop-out rates and other early issues. In Ireland, many third-level institutions offer additional dedicated supports to their Computer Science and programming students to augment the traditional lectures, tutorials, and laboratory sessions. This paper provides a review of the current state of Computer Science Support in Ireland. It features case studies from a sample of six third-level institutions, with authors from each institution detailing the support services they offer to their students. A survey was also sent to all third-level institutions in Ireland, asking for feedback about their support services (or lack thereof). Fifteen responses were received from institutions who provide additional supports (no responses were received from institutions without). From the results of this survey, and the authors' personal perspectives and experience, recommendations will be made for those looking to develop their own support services, or to improve upon existing ones. Some of the key findings from this survey are that most supports in Ireland come in the form of dedicated tutors or support centres, more support is offered on average earlier in undergraduate degrees and that most respondents agree that we need to support novice programmers. Some of the recommendations include all institutions offering some form of support service, offering it as a free service and ensuring all ability levels are catered for. Advertising the service appropriately is also important. It is the correct time to undertake such a review due to the continued growth of Computer Science as a subject, not only at third level, but now also at second level with the introduction of Computer Science to the Leaving Certificate options. Further work is ongoing in this area, with both a national group setup and an annual workshop planned to enter its second iteration in 2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Support Centres" are a form of intervention, particularly prevalent in Ireland and the UK through which undergraduate students interact with one or more tutors who help them with their studies. They primarily exist in the Mathematics and Computer Science fields. These centres tend to be remedial, in general aiming to improve the knowledge of struggling students, while also offering additional material to students looking for more of a challenge. The Computer Science Centre at Maynooth University is a drop-in tutoring service which provides free tutoring to students, primarily of programming modules, in the first and second year of their degree. This service has been running in our Computer Science department since 2012. In the 2019-2020 academic year, two full time tutors were hired to refocus and improve the centre. This resulted in the creation of a redevelopment plan and relaunch of the centre, which will be presented in this paper. The results of this redevelopment were very promising with the attendance of the centre increasing by over 800% compared to the 2018-2019 academic year. The students who did attend the centre also performed better on average than those students who did not attend the centre in their first-year undergraduate programming modules. An analysis of data relating to students visits to the centre will be presented and discussed. This paper discusses in detail the redevelopment within the centre and the work carried out by these tutors in their first year, while also presenting future plans for the centre. Guidelines are presented on managing an effective support centre (through our redevelopment plan and support methods), with the hope that more institutions in both Ireland and abroad will consider supporting their students with this methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Computer Science (CS) subject is currently being rolled out nationally into upper second level education in Ireland since September 2018 on a phased basis. The first cohort of students from phase 1 of the subjects' national rollout completed the first ever Computer Science Leaving Certificate examination in June 2020. This addition to computer science education (CSE) in Ireland now offers students an opportunity to attain a formal qualification in CS prior to entering tertiary education. Irish higher education (HE) institutions will now begin to see a change in student intake on their undergraduate CS programmes, where 'LCCS students' might enrol in first year alongside students who do not have the same level of prior knowledge in the discipline. This qualitative study explores CS lecturers' perceptions of the Leaving Certificate Computer Science (LCCS) curriculum and its influence on teaching in HE through semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis of the interview transcripts identified five key themes. The paper draws attention to aspects which may provide HE policy makers, heads of computer science departments and lecturers with greater insight into the realities of this addition of CS to the Leaving Certificate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of ubiquitous learning has emerged as a pedagogical approach in response to the advancements made in mobile, wireless communication, and sensing technologies. The domain of ubiquitous learning is distinguished by swift progression, thereby presenting a difficulty in maintaining current knowledge of its developments. The implementation of bibliometric analysis would enable the tracking of its development and current status. The objective of the present investigation is to perform a thorough bibliometric examination of the domain of ubiquitous learning. This research aims to discern significant attributes, patterns, and influencers within the discipline by analyzing scholarly works. The primary objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive depiction of the salient characteristics and patterns exhibited by the datasets employed in ubiquitous learning research, namely Scopus, Web of Science (WoS), and merged datasets. Additionally, the study seeks to trace the historical development of publications in this domain and to ascertain the most noteworthy publications and authors that have exerted a significant impact on this field. This study provides an extensive bibliometric analysis of ubiquitous learning, examining output from Scopus, WoS, and a merged dataset. It highlights the field's growth and the rising use of diverse data sources, with Scopus and the merged dataset revealing broader insights. The analysis reveals an interest peak in 2016 and a subsequent decline likely due to incomplete recent data. Documents, predominantly articles, differ across databases, underscoring the unique contributions of each. The study identifies "Lecture Notes in Computer Science" and "Ubiquitous Learning" as major research sources. It recognizes Hwang, G.-J. as a highly influential author, with Asian institutions leading in research output. However, Western institutions also show strong representation in WoS and merged databases. Despite variations in total citation counts, countries like China, Switzerland, and Ireland contribute significantly to the field. Terms like "mobile learning" and "life log" have vital roles in bridging research clusters, while thematic maps reveal evolving trends like mobile learning and learning analytics. The collaborative structure and key figures in ubiquitous learning are illuminated through network analysis, emphasizing the importance of cross-database analysis for a comprehensive view of the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new school subject, Leaving Certificate Computer Science, was introduced in September 2018 into Irish schools in a period of curriculum reform and change. Drawing on concepts of teacher agency and learner agency, and viewed through a figurational sociology lens, this paper explored the realities of teaching LCCS and the role teacher agency and learner agency played in such enactment. Through a case study design, four teachers were interviewed in a focus group semi-structured manner. To delve deeper into the pedagogical approaches used in LCCS, a further one teacher and their nine students were interviewed. The findings highlight an influential relationship (positive and negative, encouraging and discouraging) between teachers' agentic decisions in their process of achieving teacher agency and the students process of achieving learner agency. The paper offers a figurational viewpoint of the relationship between teacher agency and learner agency through a constructed Figure. We explicitly argue that the responsibility should not be placed on the teacher and student in achieving agency (as a product) but it is a combination of the teacher and the students and the other interdependent relationships within their figurations, alongside contextual factors, and educational social processes, which determine the fluctuation of the process of achieving teacher and learner agency. The paper provides considerations for computer science teacher education. • Explores the relationship between teacher agency and learner agency in Computer Science subject. • Uses figurational sociology to further understand the process of achieving agency. • Qualitative research study. • Considerations provided for Computer Science teacher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]