This poster presents an analysis of student learning of basic workflow process for GitHub. It draws on data gathered by GitKit, a learning environment that supports the development of fundamental GitHub skills widely used in contemporary software development. The poster discusses the purpose and facilities of GitKit and presents an analysis of data from use of GitKit at multiple institutions. This analysis focuses on student misconceptions and strategies in trying to execute basic GitHub workflows.

This work in progress research paper describes preliminary results of a survey-based study with the goal of answering the research question: Are students in underrepresented race/ethnic groups more interested in and motivated by humanitarian applications of computing rather than non-humanitarian applications? The survey explores student interest and motivation by asking them to choose between humanitarian and non-humanitarian computing applications. The study builds on theories and prior studies that indicate that student learning is improved by providing context to learning in the form of authentic, collaborative engagement with the subject matter. The study also builds on prior research that indicates humanitarian applications may have special appeal to some student groups that are underrepresented in computing education. This prior work includes ad hoc observation by the authors and several small scale surveys that were administered to upper level computing students. Part of the motivation for this study was to see if the same preference for humanitarian applications was apparent with students taking introductory computing courses. Introductory computing students at four institutions completed the survey and the responses of 340 students were analyzed based upon their self-reported races/ethnicities. Students in all race/ethnic groups indicated a higher interest in and motivation by humanitarian applications over non-humanitarian options. In fact, all race/ethnic groups preferred humanitarian over non-humanitarian computing applications at the p<.001 level. In considering differences across race/ethnicities, results indicate that humanitarian applications of computing are particularly appealing to Black and Latinx students. In combination these results indicate that all student groups might be better engaged by course materials that provide a humanitarian context, and underrepresented Black and Latinx students might find the humanitarian connection particularly compelling. Based on these findings, instructors might consider framing programming examples and assignments with a humanitarian focus in order to engage students and potentially increase the number of underrepresented students studying computing.

Modern version control tools and workflow practices are required skills for nearly all production software development, making them essential for students and in high demand among employers. Since these tools and processes were created for distributed, asynchronous collaboration on large scale projects, teaching them in an authentic context that makes clear their utility and design presents myriad challenges for both faculty and students. The GitKit is a snapshot of the FarmData2 Humanitarian Free and Open Source (HFOSS) project's artifacts (code, issues, documentation, etc.) frozen at a particular point in time and packaged with learning activities, an instructor guide, and a choice of containerized development environments. The GitKit thus provides students with the authentic context of a real-world project in which to learn and practice key Git and GitHub skills and workflows, while mitigating many of the challenges of doing so in an educational setting. The GitKit, including its learning activities and development environments are described in sufficient detail to encourage instructor adoption and feedback. A pilot study of student experiences with the GitKit is promising, suggesting that students gained an understanding of FOSS concepts and key skills, noticed automated guidance and feedback built into the development environment, and found it helpful in their learning. Future plans for the GitKit based on these surveys and instructor experiences with pilot uses are described along with plans for the development of HFOSS Kits for teaching and learning of other software development and aligned skills in authentic contexts.

This study investigated whether humanitarian applications of computing are more interesting and motivating to students than non-humanitarian options and whether there are differences across race/ethnic groups. A survey was developed to measure students' interest by asking them to choose between two applications, one humanitarian and one non-humanitarian. Students were also asked to rate how motivating they would find working on a collection of humanitarian and non-humanitarian applications.