Although gamification is defined as using game design elements in a non-game context, the main gamification research is focused on the motivational effect of game design elements with less attention to the impact of the “non-game context”. We argue that it is difficult to achieve deeper understanding of how educational gamification may engage or not engage learners by focusing only on the effect of the incorporated game elements, without considering its interaction with motivational drivers engendered from the learning activity. In this paper we report a preliminary study aimed at collecting empirical evidence on how a learner’s responsiveness to gamified learning is impacted by their motivational forces towards the learning activity. Specifically, we experiment with the Expectancy-Value-Cost Scale as an instrument for estimating the potential motivational drivers towards a gamified learning activity.

Gamification, the use of game elements in non-game contexts, is already widely used to enhance learner engagement and motivation. Gamification motivates by adding gamefulness to the learning tasks. It is largely agreed that the success of applying gamification to educational contexts strongly depends on the way the gamification is designed & implemented. The goal of this BOF will be to provide a platform for discussing and brainstorming of different ways in which Computer Science courses could be gamified. BOF participants will form groups which will be tasked with developing scenarios of gamification design for a CS course. The groups will be led by the BOF organizers & other participating colleagues who are experienced in applying gamification in their courses. The guiding questions will include: What should be the steps in the gamification design process, where do we start? What are the goals? Which learning activities are suited for gamifying? Which game elements - the building blocks that are used for creating gameful experiences - could be used in the selected contexts? What gamification platforms or tools can be used to implement the designed gamification? At the end, the groups will be invited to present their gamification scenarios. We hope that in this BOF we will collectively identify new and interesting strategies for creating successful and sustainable gameful experiences in CS courses which will contribute to learners' engagement & motivation.

Effective gamification can only be based on understanding the relationship between learner motivation and the game elements which are used to gamify learning activities. Although frequently mentioned, Virtual Currency (VC) remains underused and scarcely studied in educational gamification. As a motivational affordance, VC can be thought of as supporting different types of motivation, but currently, there is a lack of empirical studies which investigate this. Recognizing this gap, the purpose of our study was to empirically investigate whether and how gamifying learning activities with virtual currency can engender motivation for out-of-class practicing and what type of motivation. In the limited research others have conducted, VC has been studied largely in combination with other game elements, which does not allow reaching reliable conclusions about the impact of the individual elements. For this reason, we studied the effects of VC in a gamified Discrete Math course isolated from other game elements. The study showed that using VC to gamify practicing increased students’ practicing activity, which resulted in improved academic performance. The study also revealed that while gamified practicing did not increase students’ intrinsic motivation, it supported internalization of motivation towards this learning activity.

This Full Paper in the Research-to-Practice track builds on research in gamification of instruction. A primary objective of gamifying learning is to encourage and sustain students' engagement in activities by making them more gamelike. However, it is still unclear what structures borrowed from games could afford such a “game-like” experience and in what contexts. Embedding classmates' duels in learning settings seems a promising gamification strategy for exploration due to its potential of increasing motivation and engagement through a “game-like” experience. Similar effects are expected from using virtual currency, another design element popular in video games. Accordingly, the goal of this study is to empirically investigate whether the incorporation of dueling leads to increased interest in out-of-class practicing. In addition, we were interested in investigating to what an extent adding virtual currency can boost students' interest in dueling. An introductory class in Python programming served as the experimental environment. Unlike most studies in which the control group works in a non-gamified condition and the experimental group works in a gamified condition, this experiment uses a different approach. We investigated the impact on learners' engagement of adding duels to an ongoing gamified activity. Engagement indicators were measured and logged throughout the semester while student motivation was examined through surveys. The opportunity to challenge classmates appeared after the first exam (around one-third of the semester) and continued for the remaining two thirds of the class time. Thus, the same students in the new condition served as the experimental group. After the third exam, we added virtual currency. Students were able to earn virtual currency by issuing and responding to duel requests as well as by doing extra practice. This had a noticeable effect on the use of dueling. The empirical results of the study show that overall, for this group of students, adding duels alone had no positive effect on students' engagement with the gamified practicing system. However, evidence from the survey suggests that the studied combination of gamification elements (points, badges, leaderboard, avatars, duels, and virtual currency) did increase student intrinsic motivation.

There has been an increasing effort to make activities that are not inherently interesting for all learners more attractive through gamification. Although the research on the effectiveness of educational gamification has been growing, the effects of some gamification elements on learners' motivation and engagement are not well understood. In response to this gap, in this paper we describe an experience of gamifying out-of-class practicing with Virtual Currency (VC) in a Computer Networking course. The results of our study show that the VC-based gamification (without interactions with any other gamification elements) had a positive impact on student engagement compared to non-gamified online practicing. The learners' VC earning and spending behaviors indicate also that Virtual Currency brings additional objectives for students to strive for, besides grades.

The low performance and drop-outs in Computer Science classes are frequently attributed to lack of student engagement and motivation. Meanwhile, gamification increasingly attracts the interest of educators due to its potential to foster motivation and behavioral changes in learning contexts. This workshop introduces participants to the concept of gamification and the use of OneUp Learning, a platform aimed at gamifying academic courses. OneUp is aimed at encouraging students' out-of-class practicing and increasing their overall engagement in the course through employing game design elements. The platform is course-independent and highly configurable, allowing the instructor to turn on and off a number of gamification features, such as avatars, points (challenge and skill points), leaderboards, skill boards, a progress bar, content unlocking, goal-setting, badges, virtual currency, duels, chat, etc. For using OneUp, an instructor has to provide practice exercises and to specify the gamification elements to be used. Apart from the standard question types, OneUp supports Parson's problems and dynamic problems (e.g. programming problems). The workshop proceeds in two sessions. In the first session we introduce the OneUp platform and present our experience of gamifying a Data Structures course. In the second, workshop attendees engage in hands-on experience: we show them how to use OneUp in their classes. In particular, we assist them in creating problems and challenges, configuring desired gamification features, defining their own badges and rules for earning and spending virtual currency, and monitoring the engagement and progress of their students. Laptops required.

Gamification in education still lacks systematic studies assessing its impact on learning. This poster will present the design of our empirical studies on the effect of various combination of game elements on student motivation and engagement in CS courses.

Having to compete harder than ever for students' attention against cool social media sites, mobile apps, video games, messaging, etc., instructors are struggling to find new ways to motivate and engage learners. Gamification offers a promising framework for educational interventions that can increase students' motivation and engagement. This BOF will bring together instructors who have already explored the use of various game driven strategies and elements to increase the motivation of their students and also those who are looking for promising interventions to do that. The facilitators conducted a similar BOF at SIGCSE 2018, which was well attended, well received and sparked an interesting and lively discussion. This BOF will continue the conversation on what might be useful ways of incorporating game elements in Computer Science courses, what tools might be needed to support such efforts, how can the student experience of gamified learning be personalized, etc. Two NSF sponsored projects related to the use of gamification in STEM courses will seed the discussion. We hope to collectively contribute to the ongoing important discussion on successful strategies for applying of gamification in Computer Science education.

Although many CS courses require extensive practice, a large number of students show low motivation for engaging in non-graded, self-directed learning activities. To address this problem, we developed OneUp - a highly configurable course gamification platform that enables instructors to tailor the gamification features to fit their preferences. This paper presents a case study of using OneUp to gamify a Data Structures course. The focus is on encouraging students' self-study and better engagement with out-of-class online practicing. We describe the utilized game elements - badges, leaderboard, virtual currency, and learning dashboards, and provide a descriptive analysis of their use. The results of our evaluation show that this gamification intervention has been well received by the students, resulting in significantly increased student engagement and out-of-class practicing and in a reduced failing rate.

Most of the current educational gamification applications are created without clear connections to motivational theories backing their design. As a result, they focus more on rewards and progress information and less on gameful experiences. This paper discusses the design of OneUp Learning - a gamification platform developed with the aim to address these problems. It discusses the underlying motivational theory and psychological mechanisms of games driving its design and briefly describes the functionality of the resulting highly configurable platform for gamifying academic courses and studying the motivational mechanisms of educational gamification.

Two faculty teams worked to develop significant content that could be presented in a variety of contexts to students with interests in many areas. This poster reports on the opportunities and the challenges encountered.

Participants in this Birds-of-Feather session will share thoughts and experiences in offering an introductory course in this exploding field. It will be the third consecutive year that these facilitators will conduct a SIGCSE session on a first course in Data Science. The interest in the field has increased greatly over the years, and attendees of varying backgrounds, points of view and experience are welcome. Whether the course will serve as an outreach vehicle to students of all majors, including non-technical ones, or as a first course in a formal program of some sort, we will be exchanging points of view regarding both topic coverage and pedagogical approaches. Regarding topics, we'll raise questions on the relative emphases of statistics, programming (should R be the vehicle? how about Python? other languages?), machine learning (which algorithms?), other tools, and appropriate data sets. Participants who have taught such a course will be invited to describe some of their approaches, especially if they've used such active learning methods as flipped classrooms. The facilitators, PI's on an NSF IUSE grant now winding down, bring experience from two institutions and three departments, including one interdisciplinary course. They hope to expand the community begun through the grant and these sessions, hosted at http://computingportal.org/DataScienceCommunity.

The low performance and drop-outs in Computer Science classes are frequently attributed to lack of engagement and motivation. Meanwhile, gamification - the application of game design principles and game mechanics to a non-game context -- increasingly attracts the interest of educators due to its potential to foster motivation and behavioral changes in learning contexts. Course gamification is about using game elements, such as instant feedback, freedom to fail, freedom of choice, achievements, leveling, progress mechanics, badges, and leaderboards, as interventions in the learning process. This BOF will provide a platform for a discussion of when and how course gamification strategies can be beneficial for improving student motivation, engagement and achievements in Computer Science classes. Questions to be discussed include: What game elements could be useful in gamifying a computer science course? How can an instructor incorporate game elements in the design of their courses? What support the instructor may need for gamifying their courses? Could some game elements have potential drawbacks on student motivation and performance? The discussion leaders and attendees with experience in applying gamification in their courses will share examples of successes or failures, challenges, problems, tips, and techniques for gamifying learning with each other and those new to the use of gamification. Two NSF sponsored projects related to the use of gamification in STEM courses will seed the discussion. As an outcome of the discussion, we hope to collectively identify some lessons learned and challenges to be overcome for a successful application of gamification in Computer Science education.

Data Science, often described at the intersection of computer science, statistical thinking and analysis, and subject matter expertise, has seen an exponential growth in the past few years. Courses (and entire programs) have been appearing at such a fast rate at most institutions of higher education, as well as some high schools, that comparisons between curricular and delivery models and rigorous discipline-based education research are often overlooked in order to gain competitive advantages. This study attempts to rectify that absence by evaluating, comparing, and discussing four different courses offered at two different institutions of higher education. Funded by NSF via a collaborative grant (DUE-1432438), faculty from Computer Science and Statistics departments collaborated on the development and evaluation of introductory courses in Data Science for all students, using a discipline-based education research approach. Data on students were gathered including demographics, curriculum, statistical knowledge, and attitudes towards Data Science. Post-course growth was measured, when available, and compared through formal statistical inference. End-of-course evaluations, with supplemental questions about student learning, were reviewed and will be summarized. Finally, reflections on successes, challenges, and lessons learned will be shared.

In this poster the authors report on experiences in teaching an introductory course in Data Science at two different institutions. Their approaches were informed by the aims of their NSF-funded project: to provide insight on learning goals, central data science topics, content modules, and a framework for implementing a flipped classroom approach to introduce data science to students with various technical backgrounds. The authors, investigators on the grant mentioned above, are a collaborative team of computer scientists and a statistician working to create flipped material for an introductory data science class. After ITiCSE the materials described in the poster will continue to be available in Ensemble, at http://computingportal.org/datascienceflipped

The use and analysis of large quantities of data have become ubiquitous in nearly every discipline. We began a discussion of the role of data science across disciplines, and the role of computing in data science programs, at SIGCSE 16. The session was well attended and the discussion was valuable. Since then, more work has been done and more people are engaged. This BOF will continue the discussion, including welcoming new voices. We will distribute copies of the report of the NSF sponsored workshop on Data Science education and discuss a new initiative to develop curriculum guidelines for data science programs. This initiative will be in its earliest stages by the time SIGCSE meets, so it will be an excellent opportunity to gather impressions about what are critical considerations for any such curriculum effort. We developed a mailing list from the SIGCSE 16 attendees and will use that list to promote the BOF. The BOF will engage SIGCSE participants who have views on the content and role of courses and programs in data science. In addition to the workshop report, we will describe results from an NSF IUSE grant to develop modules for use in many types of courses. These expect to make access to fundamentals elements of data science available as widely as possible. With these as a starting point, participants in the Birds of a Feather session will explore the emerging field of data science and its relationship to computer science education. Discussions will be hosted at http://computingportal.org/datascienceflipped

There is good evidence that students learn better when given more opportunity to practice skills using related problems. However, this requires a sufficient supply of automatically graded problems to enable instant feedback. This can be achieved through automating the process of problem generation. While a few dynamic problem generation systems exist, they are either very specific to a single topic (such as tools for automatic generation of parameterized questions for Java or C programming or they are intended for other disciplines and not easily adapted to the needs of Computer Science. We have developed a prototype system for authoring, administering, and grading dynamic problems. This system is specifically designed for computer science. To this end, it supports complex logic, calling external programs such as compilers or databases, and the creation and manipulation of figures and diagrams. Problems and useful code libraries can be created and shared between instructors. It is a web-based system where instructors can specify problems by combining static text or images with bits of Lua code which add dynamism. When students use the system, their answers will be graded automatically, and they will be able to see the results, thus giving them quicker feedback. This is an integrated portion of a larger gamified learning platform called OneUp which is under development and aims to combine hands-on practicing with additional game-like motivational mechanisms. The goal of both the larger platform and the dynamic problems in specific is to increase student engagement in the learning process.

In this poster the authors report the approaches for presenting Data Science topics in Flipped Classroom mode, incorporating topics in Data Science into existing courses as well as in stand-alone courses. It provides an insight on listing of learning goals, central data science topics, content modules, and a framework for implementing a flipped classroom approach to introduce data science to students with limited technical backgrounds. The presenters are NSF-funded investigators on a collaborative team of computer scientists and statistician to create flipped material for an introductory data science class.

The CS OER Portal was created with the goal of improving the find ability and increasing the use of open educational resources in Computer Science. In this paper we describe the portal's design principles which exploit the domain specificity of the hosted content and are focused on enhancing the search and navigation in the portal. Distinctive retrieval features are the proposed topical recommendation and query-by-navigation. The latter allows users to formulate queries by walking through a directory-like structure based on the ACM/IEEE CS Curriculum Recommendation.

Open content and open access to resources are important factors in the innovation of Computer Science education. This paper presents a study aimed at gaining an understanding of the needs of Computer Science educators in terms of Open Educational Resources (OER): what kind of resources they need, when they need them, how they use them, and what are the barriers and the enablers for using OER The results of the study are compared and analyzed in the context of the popular OER sites. The work contributes to the research on OER utilization and discovery.

This paper presents a new type of digital repositories based on a hybrid organizational structure that leverages the potential of domain specific collaborative tagging in combination with a taxonomy-driven classification. It is exemplified in Linked Course - a repository prototype for collaborative development, sharing and reuse of learning resources equipped with adequate searching tools. The focus of the paper is on the collaborative semantic annotation and searching for similar resources and users. The implemented approach is aimed at keeping the flexibility of collaborative tagging embedded in a domain-specific structured knowledge organization system.

This paper presents an approach to increasing the reusability of online course repositories by collecting and annotating learning content using consensually agreed vocabularies. It proposes support to courseware authors focused on two aspects: (i) providing means for creating ontological structures (to be used as a skeleton for structuring course related material) and partially populate them with learning resources; (ii) assisting authors in selecting names for new concepts/topics combined with their subject identification. The proposed approach is implemented in an authoring tool extending the TM4L Editor.

In this paper we address the issue of defining and using views in information seeking tasks in the context of topic-centered learning repositories. We propose an extension of the topic maps model with views and an approach for a view-based retrieval that improves the search of relevant resources. We have implemented this extension in the educational topic maps environment TM4L. The provided support enables users to retrieve resources by specifying view descriptors derived from their current tasks or goals

In this paper we examine some problems related to capturing the structure and the topic name space of learning content in the context of topic map authoring. We demonstrate that the use of traditional course taxonomies as ontological resources is problematic. Based on these findings and on the results of a locally conducted study, we propose an empirically justified minimal ontology for topic maps-based e-learning. The proposed minimal set contains five relation types and is implemented in the TM4L Editor to support authors that experience difficulties in articulating and naming relationships.

TM4L is an e-learning environment providing editing and browsing support for developing and using topic maps-based digital course libraries. The TM4L functionality is enhanced by an interactive graphical user interface that combines a hierarchical layout with an animated view, coupled with context sensitive features. This paper discusses the visualization design in TM4L and some development issues.