Across various countries and jurisdictions, we have seen reports of a “graduate skills gap”, with higher-than-desired graduate unemployment and underemployment, as well as reports from employers that there is a mismatch between the competencies desired by employers and those evidenced by graduates. Graduate employment prospects are related to many complex intersecting factors, including human capital, individual attributes, individual career-building behaviours, labour market factors, and social capital. Alongside the graduate skills gap, there are also reports internationally of a “digital skills gap”, with increasing demand for digital skills and a proclaimed shortage of diverse digital skills evidenced by the workforce. These circumstances appear to promote positive employment outcomes for computing graduates. However, there are reports in many jurisdictions, including the UK, of skills-gap-related issues for computing graduates. In response to these concerns, curricula guidance in the computing and engineering disciplines are increasingly promoting competency-based education (CBE) to develop graduates' work readiness better and, hence, reduce the skills gap. Authentic Assessment, i.e. Assessment that addresses important problems or questions that require students to effectively and creatively apply their knowledge and disciplinary and personal skills, mirroring the challenges faced by adults or professionals in the real-world context, has also been advocated to reduce skills gaps between education and professional life. However, the link between CBE and Authentic Assessment in the computing discipline could benefit from further exploration. This paper explores the relationship between CBE and authentic assessment. Based on the guiding research question: “How can authentic assessment be employed to promote competency in computing degree programmes?”, the paper begins by providing theoretical underpinnings in the form of working definitions for competency and authentic assessment and the link between the two. This paper follows a proof-of-concept research approach conducted by evolutionary prototyping to develop a framework for exploring the relationship between authentic assessment and competency. The paper documents the validation of the framework by applying it to examples of practices from UK universities involved in the study. These illustrative examples show the framework in action. The paper concludes with a discussion of how the framework promotes learner competency development by authentic assessment. This approach has implications for enhancing how computing graduates address digital skills gaps and has the potential to be customised and adopted more broadly across STEM disciplines.

Good program layout and consistent application of style facilitates code readability and comprehension. Appropriate use of white space, in particular vertical space, is useful for organising code into logical groupings of text. Where this style is not followed then the code manifests crowding and can inhibit comprehension. When reading natural text, crowding has been recognised as disproportionately affecting the reading efficiency of dyslexic readers. We present an independent two-factorial study which examines the extent to which crowding in program code affects programmers with dyslexia. The study involved 30 participants (14 dyslexia, 16 control) reading and describing crowded and spaced versions of three Java programs. Comprehension time and accuracy were measured. An eye tracker was used to collect gaze metrics. Results are presented relating to the interaction between dyslexia and crowding. Noting the small sample size, the results show that, while there is an interaction effect on gaze metrics for some program features, the results do not suggest any significant effect whereby programmers with dyslexia are disproportionately affected by crowding in computer programs.

Abstract Correlated quality metrics extracted from a source code repository can be utilized to design a model to automatically predict defects in a software system. It is obvious that the extracted metrics will result in a highly unbalanced data, since the number of defects in a good quality software system should be far less than the number of normal instances. It is also a fact that the selection of the best discriminating features significantly improves the robustness and accuracy of a prediction model. Therefore, the contribution of this paper is twofold, first it selects the best discriminating features that help in accurately predicting a defect in a software component. Secondly, a cost-sensitive logistic regression and decision tree ensemble-based prediction models are applied to the best discriminating features for precisely predicting a defect in a software component. The proposed models are compared with the most recent schemes in the literature in terms of accuracy, area under the curve, and recall. The models are evaluated using 11 datasets and it is evident from the results and analysis that the performance of the proposed prediction models outperforms the schemes in the literature.

The software engineering industry is increasingly aware of the role and value of neurodiverse engineers within the workforce. One motivation is the alignment between skills needed for software development and the processing strengths of individuals with autistic spectrum conditions. One aspect of neurodiversity is dyslexia, typically presenting in individuals through a range of reading deficiencies. In this paper we build on recent work which has sought to investigate if programmers with dyslexia read program code in a way which is different from programmers without dyslexia. The particular focus of this analysis is the nature of saccadic movement and patterns of linearity when reading code. A study is presented in which the eye gaze of 28 programmers (14 with dyslexia and 14 without) was recorded using an eye tracking device while reading and understanding three on-screen Java programs. Using insights from the wider dyslexia literature, hypotheses are formulated to reflect the expected saccadic gaze behaviour of programmers with dyslexia. A range of existing metrics for linearity of program reading are adapted and used for statistical analysis of the data. Results are consistent with recent work elsewhere and indicate that programmers with dyslexia do not exhibit patterns of linearity significantly different from the control group. Non-linear gaze is shown to be approximately 40% of all saccadic movement. Some preliminary insights are offered based on the data available, suggesting that the extent of non-linear reading when comprehending program code might complement the processing and problem solving style of the programmer with dyslexia.

This paper investigates the impact of dyslexia on the reading and comprehension of computer program code. Drawing upon work from the fields of program comprehension, eye tracking, dyslexia, models of reading and dyslexia gaze behaviour, a set of hypotheses is developed with which to investigate potential differences in the gaze behaviour of programmers with dyslexia compared to typical programmers. The hypotheses posit that, in general terms, programmers with dyslexia will show gaze behaviour of longer duration and a greater number of fixations on program features than typical programmers. An experiment is described in which 28 programmers (14 with dyslexia, 14 without dyslexia) were asked to read and explain three simple computer programs. Eye tracking technology is used to capture the gaze behaviour of the programmers. Data analysis suggests that the code reading behaviour of programmers with dyslexia is not what would be expected based on the dyslexia literature relating to natural text. In conjunction with further exploratory analysis, observations are made in relation to spatial differences in how programmers with dyslexia read and scan code. The results show that the gaze behaviour of programmers with dyslexia requires further study to understand effects such as code layout, identifier naming and line length. A possible impact on dyslexia gaze behaviour is from the visual crowding of features in program code which might cause certain program features to receive less attention during a program comprehension task.

In the software engineering industry the technique of pair programming can be used as a means of enhancing programmer productivity and the quality of the software development process. Pair programming has also been used in computer science education as a mechanism to address some of the educational challenges faced by students learning to program. An action research study is described in which pair programming is used as part of the learning and assessment regime in introductory programming. Module data has been used over a three year cycle to evaluate the impact of pair programming on student performance and confidence in programming, and to gain insights into its practical application. Within-subject analysis confirms previously reported observations of overall improved student performance. Qualitative analysis identifies areas for refinement in the practical application of pair programming for learning and assessment, particularly in relation to pairwise communication, establishing protocols for conflict resolution and development of professional competencies.