General Software Education (GSE)

Permanent URI for this collection

Browse

Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Item
    Supporting the Reflective Learning of Conceptual Modeling Using Interactive Timelines and Replays
    ( 2022-01-04) Schmittchen, Marcel
    It is not a trivial task to teach “good” conceptual modeling in a structured way. One problem we encountered in our previous exploratory studies is the predominant reflection of the quality of finished models and less of the modeling process itself. As a result, many phenomena like the emergence of errors or the coordination and collaboration phases in group modeling usually get out of focus and are subsequently not thoroughly considered in teaching. Thus, we have developed a tool-supported timeline method, which allows us to review and discuss the collaborative development process of models after they have been finished or submitted. We evaluated the method and employed a variety of tool features in our regular undergrad courses. Considering the perspective and experiences of teachers and learners alike, we discovered that teachers can use our method to better analyze strategies and made mistakes when enough time to prepare the reflection, even if this increases the time distance to the event it is reflected on. Learners were motivated to share and reflect on their actions. Furthermore, we identified further steps to facilitate our reflective modeling teaching method.
  • Item
    Steps Before Syntax: Helping Novice Programmers Solve Problems using the PCDIT Framework
    ( 2022-01-04) Kurniawan, Oka ; Jégourel, Cyrille ; Lee, Norman Tiong Seng ; De Mari, Matthieu ; Poskitt, Christopher M.
    Novice programmers often struggle with problem solving due to the high cognitive loads they face. Furthermore, many introductory programming courses do not explicitly teach it, assuming that problem solving skills are acquired along the way. In this paper, we present 'PCDIT', a non-linear problem solving framework that provides scaffolding to guide novice programmers through the process of transforming a problem specification into an implemented and tested solution for an imperative programming language. A key distinction of PCDIT is its focus on developing concrete cases for the problem early without actually writing test code: students are instead encouraged to think about the abstract steps from inputs to outputs before mapping anything down to syntax. We reflect on our experience of teaching an introductory programming course using PCDIT, and report the results of a survey that suggests it helped students to break down challenging problems, organise their thoughts, and reach working solutions.
  • Item
    Learning-by-Teaching in CS Education: A Systematic Review
    ( 2022-01-04) Li, Yi (Joy) ; Li, Zhigang ; Zhang, Chi
    To investigate the strategies and approaches in teaching Computer Science (CS), we searched the literature review in CS education in the past ten years. The reviews show that learning-by-teaching with the use of technologies is helpful for improving student learning. To further investigate the strategies that are applied to learning-by-teaching, three categories are identified: peer tutoring, game-based flipped classroom, and teachable agents. In each category, we further searched and investigated prior studies. The results reveal the effectiveness and challenges of each strategy and provide insights for future studies.
  • Item
    A Software Lab with On-demand Support
    ( 2022-01-04) Dietsch, Daniel ; Langenfeld, Vincent
    Software lab courses are in a paradoxical situation: teaching and experiencing software engineering processes requires large and complex projects as well as various tools but target students with extremely diverse prior knowledge, thus regularly overwhelming the more inexperienced ones. In this paper, we present a software lab course design: we expose teams of students to the full complexity of software development projects while simultaneously employing various systems that identify issues in teamwork or project progress and allow lecturers to provide on-demand support throughout all stages. The success of the course is shown by questionnaire data from the last ten years.
  • Item
    Introduction to the Minitrack on General Software Education (GSE)
    ( 2022-01-04) Tenbergen, Bastian ; Daun, Marian