Learning to program is a complex task, and the impact of different pedagogical approaches to teach this skill has been hard to measure. This study examined the performance data of seven cohorts of students (N = 1168) learning programming under three different pedagogical approaches. These pedagogical approaches varied either in the length of the…

Within existing ICT degrees there is a widely-held belief that content must be tailored for different "kinds" of students--often two differing student groups: a technical group requiring detailed Computer Science knowledge and a separate group requiring less technical, more strategic ICT knowledge and skills. Our institution has produced…

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the demand from professionals in different areas for improving the curricula regarding information security. The use of authentic case studies in teaching information security offers the potential to effectively engage students in active learning. In this paper, the authors introduce the…

Computer science as a school subject in France is characterized by a succession of promising starts that have not yet been transformed into perennial solutions. The main goal of this article is to analyze this complex situation from a historical perspective, and describe the current rebirth of an optional Computer Science course in the last year…

Microteaching techniques have been used for teacher training since the mid 1960s. Despite its usefulness, as affirmed by pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, and graduate teaching assistants (GTAs), there are numerous criticisms on the shortcomings of microteaching activities. Specifically, it (a) oversimplifies the classroom learning and…

Teaching Polymorphism can be best implemented by using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches. However, from our observation and students' self-reporting, the former seems to be the predominant in the Saudi context. We try to investigate whether applying a more balanced approach in teaching the comprehensive concept of Polymorphism…

Although teamwork has been identified as an essential skill for Computer Science (CS) graduates, these skills are identified as lacking by industry employers, which suggests a need for more proactive measures to teach and assess teamwork. In one CS course, students worked in teams to create a wiki solution to problem-based questions. Through a…

Building from findings showing that undergraduate computer science continues to have the highest attrition rates proportionally for women within postsecondary science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines--a phenomenon that defies basic social equity goals in a high status field--this paper seeks to better understand how student…

Many studies have reported the utilization of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) in teaching Software Engineering courses. However, these studies have different views of the effectiveness of PBL. This paper presents the design of an Advanced Software Engineering course for undergraduate Software Engineering students that uses PBL to teach them Agile…

Computer science proficiency continues to grow in importance, while the number of students entering computer science-related fields declines. Many rich programming environments have been created to motivate student interest and expertise in computer science. In the current study, we investigated whether a recently created environment, Robot…

Cooperative learning is a well-known instructional technique that has been applied with a wide variety of subject matter and a broad spectrum of populations. This article briefly reviews the principles of cooperative learning, and describes how these principles were incorporated into a comprehensive set of cooperative learning activities for a CS1…

This paper describes how a gamified rewards and penalties framework was used to increase attendance and engagement in a level six undergraduate computing module teaching game production. The framework was applied to the same module over two consecutive years: a control year and a trial year. In both years the tutor, assignments and assessment…

In this paper we present an artifacts-based approach to teaching a senior level Object-Oriented Analysis and Design course. Regardless of the systems development methodology and process model, and in order to facilitate communication across the business modeling, analysis, design, construction and deployment disciplines, we focus on (1) the…

Recursion is an important concept for any computer science student to master. Many first year students develop the viable "copies" mental model of recursion and can successfully trace the execution of a simple recursive function. This article discusses a study focused on determining whether the ability to successfully trace a recursive…

The theory and practice of search algorithms related to state-space represented problems form the major part of the introductory course of Artificial Intelligence at most of the universities and colleges offering a degree in the area of computer science. Students usually meet these algorithms only in some imperative or object-oriented language…