There are a number of different approaches to the investigation of teaching and learning within the subject of Computing Education. Many of the advances in pedagogy that have taken place over the past thirty years have been due to careful statistical analysis of empirical data, enhancing the reputation of the subject within the broader Computing discipline. Empirical, qualitative methodologies, of the kinds used extensively in the Social Sciences, have also appeared in the Computing Education literature, often investigating the socio-cultural aspects of the subject. More recently, there has been a proposal to develop a role for philosophical inquiry in Computing Education, which mirrors similar historical developments in Engineering Education. Rather than focus on the quantitative or qualitative analysis of the student experience, philosophical investigation instead relies on the use of conceptual analysis to investigate the detailed semantic content of ideas raised in the practice of computing education, careful analysis of the methodologies used to do such work, and a critique of the assumptions that underlie the subject.

This research-to-practice full paper discusses students' views on the role of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in their learning. The rapid integration of GenAI in educational settings has prompted significant interest in its implications for learning and academic integrity. This study investigates the adoption and impact of GenAI tools among computing students at a university, focusing on how they are utilized for educational purposes and their ethical implications. Semi-structured interviews with nine computing students were used to examine GenAI's specific use and timing. Additionally, it explores students' perceptions of the trustworthiness of GenAI outputs and identifies the students' ethical boundaries concerning its use in academic work. The findings reveal that while GenAI tools might enhance learning efficiency and provide substantial educational support, they raise significant ethical concerns, particularly regarding academic misconduct. The study highlights the need for educational strategies to navigate the challenges posed by GenAI technologies. Finally, three recommendations for computing education are outlined. This research contributes to the ongoing discourse on GenAI in education by describing the student's reflections on GenAI.

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to make its presence felt in transforming workplaces around the world, and the Information Technology industry in particular, it is essential to understand its impact on the work practices of IT professionals, and the implications for computing students and curricula. This research project builds on work initiated jointly, in Sweden, New Zealand and Scotland, investigating concerns about the increasing impacts of Artificial Intelligence in IT Sector workplaces for employee work engagement and the implications for tertiary study, assessment and curricula in computing. "Work engagement", has been defined as the positive inner state where employees are fully present and engaged in their work, and is closely linked to motivation, learning, productivity, and accountability. Within the context of (Generative) AI at work, IT professionals have been noted as early adopters of AI. Their involvement in implementing and utilising AI technologies can provide valuable insights into the interplay between AI and work engagement. The implications for students are significant as future IT professionals, who must acquire and enhance competencies to adapt and thrive in digital workplaces.

Abstract As the complexity of IT systems increases, the demand for methods taking the whole work situation into account grows. The Vision Seminar (VS) process addresses the future usage of technologies in complex digital work environments. This paper describes the experiences of conducting the VS process in the context of a large IT project to improve study-administrative work. The participants and stakeholders' experiences of participating in VS workshops were studied as the effect the participants and stakeholders believed the vision might have. Data were gathered through interviews and a survey. The participants were confident that the time spent on workshops was worthwhile and that achieving the future described in the resulting vision was feasible. The stakeholders perceived the VS process as rigorous. They were happily surprised by the positive spirit and engagement displayed by the participants. The utility of the resulting vision not being obvious was the most notable weakness mentioned.

This work contributes to a better understanding of computing teachers' perceptions of themselves as role models. Role models are described as important to address under-representation, yet there is little in-depth research on how role modeling works and what university teachers in computing can model to broaden participation in the discipline. We will analyze teachers' reflections on how they may, or want to, be perceived by their students, particularly in terms of professional competencies, emotions and attitudes towards well-being. We will use and further develop an already existing framework on role modeling in computing, and we will relate our findings to existing research on computing and science identities. Modeling aspects outside the computing norm can help provide students with a wider notion of what it means to be a computer scientist. Besides developing the theoretical understanding of computing teachers as role models , our work can support various ways of developing computing teachers' competences and departments' teaching culture. The results are one way to contribute to student diversity and equitable access, and more broadly increase the relevance of computing education for sustainability.

Previous research has established that leaders in information and communication technology (ICT) are crucial for establishing a user-centred systems design perspective in ICT for work-related tasks. This paper therefore describes the perspectives of 18 ICT leaders in three kinds of leadership roles (managers, project leaders and specialists) in order to understand their views of user-centred systems design concerning ICT. It uses the concept of technological frames of reference to analyse three domains: technology-in-use, technology strategy and nature of technology. The results show that many specialists see user involvement as a critical factor in successfully establishing new information and communication technologies, but that these systems are currently built around the needs of management rather than end users. Looking forward, all three relevant social groups are optimistic about how ICT will become more user-centred and more strategically aligned in the future. However, changes in ICT are described as extremely energy-consuming and difficult – akin to ‘walking in the jungle with a machete’. Finally, we discuss the relevance of technological frames and present some implications for the successful establishment of user-centred system design as a perspective in organisations.

The usage of User Experience (UX) methods has been studied through the years. However, little is known about UX professionals’ lifelong learning processes related to UX methods in Agile, choosing what UX methods to use, and the enablers and hindrances for using the UX methods. The study aims to broaden current knowledge about UX professionals’ lifelong learning practices to understand their work situations better. The paper describes how UX professionals learn about and choose UX methods, their frequency of use, and the enablers and barriers when using the UX methods in Agile. An interview study was conducted with 13 UX professionals from various industries and two countries working with Agile and UX. We used a qualitative approach, and a thematic analysis was carried out to answer the research questions. The results show that support from colleagues is an essential component for learning about the methods and how to use UX methods. Time pressure makes UX professionals choose methods they know will deliver their desired results. Prototyping, user testing, user journeys, and workshops are the most frequently used UX methods. Additionally, the results show that UX professionals think that the UX methods are often too complicated and take too long to learn. Additionally, they find it challenging to integrate UX methods into Agile. These findings indicate that UX methods might work better if designed to be less complicated and deliver results more efficiently. Moreover, collegial and peer learning is central to UX professionals. The HCI community could be more active in supporting this culture by sharing information and learning. Finally, the usability and UX of the tools affect which UX methods are used.

This is a full research paper addressing the crucial element of understanding students when creating learning environments. It is for instance important to be aware of how students appreciate our way of teaching and to consider consequences of students not understanding or plainly disliking a setup. This paper addresses the negative experiences of students in a peer-learning environment named the self-flipped classroom. Through the lens of a theory of personal epistemology we investigate course evaluation reports and observations from anonymous students. Results indicate that the personal epistemology framework indeed gives some answers to students disliking the self-flipped aspect of the course, and that some students would rather be told what to learn in detail as in the quote: “why don't you tell me what I need to know?”. Finally the paper presents some ideas on ways forward.

The aim of this special session is to connect researchers interested in computing and engineering education for sustainability. We will explore the use of care and care ethics as a theoretical perspective to develop sustainability education. Theoretical discussions in environmental and sustainability education (ESE) research and feminist research will be introduced to develop an understanding of care for education. Those theories will be illustrated and motivated based on concrete examples in computing and computing education. The participants get to choose among four different topics of discussion in the session, 1) the role of education to prepare for care, 2) theoretical discussions of care as a concept to develop education and education research, 3) pedagogical methods to foster care, 4) care and responsibility in the curriculum. The outcome of this session is two-fold: The participants will gain new ways of conceiving education for human and planetary well-being and they will get to know researchers and educational developers with an interest in and experiences with sustainability education.

This paper presents an investigation of a pedagogical approach where student act as prosumers of peer-generated knowledge. A cohort of computing science students were tasked to interview field experts, and then produced a report of the interview results in the form of a short video accompanied by a written summary. The reports were used to facilitate learning about aspects and phases of IT systems life cycle. This paper investigates student and instructor attitudes to and experiences of this pedagogical approach. Our findings suggest that the students were generally not ready for this learning method, which led to the "love it or hate it" split within the observed cohort. While the instructing team was convinced of the benefits of the used pedagogical approach and planned to continue using it in future, they were faced with a number of challenges. The biggest of those challenges was that the instructors had no control over the quality of teaching materials, which affected learning experience of the students. This paper's findings contribute to the understanding of CS student and instructor expectations, attitudes, and experiences of non-traditional teaching and learning activities such as creating videos and reusing student-produced multi-media materials.

The involvement of stakeholders is crucial when designing IT in highly complex application domains, such as healthcare. Stakeholder relationships are complex and can include strongly conflicting needs and value tensions. In this case study, we investigate the different perspectives of patients and physicians related to Patient Accessible Electronic Health Records (PAEHR) in Sweden. Generally, the introduction of this service has been heavily criticised by healthcare professionals, but welcomed by patients. The paper presents an innovative study design where themes from interviews with physicians are used as a lens to analyse survey data from patients. The findings highlight the necessity to understand stakeholders' perspectives about other stakeholder groups by contrasting assumptions and expectations of physicians (indirect stakeholders) with experience of use by patients (direct stakeholders), and discusses practical challenges when designing large-scale health information systems.

The learning agreement has great potential as a learning intervention that supports learners to take ownership of their learning and to develop in ways that are meaningful to them. It is useful to educate a diverse student cohort. In a project course as the one investigated in this study, the learning agreement intervention can be beneficial to make use of the different experiences and competencies that a diverse student group brings to the table. In practice however, the learning agreement invention is uncommon in education and not well understood. As it is used in the present study, it is essentially a document in which the students describe competencies that they want to develop, as well as how they will develop and assess those competencies. This study has investigated the learning agreement intervention as it was conducted in an open-ended group project, in particular a workshop to improve the quality and usefulness of the students' learning agreements. Two versions of learning agreements, the one before the workshop and the one after, from 19 students were analysed, as well as semi-structured interview data with the students. We find that many learning agreements are of little use, even after the workshop. A qualitative thematic analysis suggests that the students experience the learning agreement and workshop as useful but that they still struggle with the learning agreement, particularly with describing activities to develop and assess their learning. We derive ideas for how to improve the learning agreement intervention, e.g. by integrating it more with the project work.

Literature on global employability signifies “enabling” learning environments where students encounter ill-formed and open-ended problems and are required to adapt and be creative. Varying forms of “projects,” co-located and distributed, have populated computing curricula for decades and are generally deemed an answer to this call. We performed a qualitative study to describe how project course students are able to capitalize on the promise of enabling learning environments. This critical perspective was motivated by the circumstance of the present-day education systems being heavily regulated for the precipitated production of human capital. The students involved in our study described education system-imposed and group-imposed narratives of narrowed opportunities, as well as many self-related challenges. However, students welcomed autonomy as an enjoyable condition and linked it with motivation. Whole-group commitment and self-related attributes such as taking care of one’s own learning appeared as important conditions. The results highlight targets for interventions that can counteract constraining study conditions and continue the march of projects as a means to foster complex learning for the benefit of students and professionalism in global software engineering.

Education can be seen as a preparation for a future profession, where some educational programs very clearly prepare their students for a certain profession, e.g. plumber, nurse and architect. The possible professions for students following education programs in computing is quite varied and thus difficult to cater for, but to educate towards a professional life is still a stated goal in most higher education settings. We argue that this goal is typically not even closely reached and provide an analysis indicating factors explaining this situation. The analysis is based on the concept of professional identity.In earlier work [1] a framework with which to reason about student interactions with the regulatory structure of higher education and teachers was developed. In that paper we developed a compound model which not only relates these players to one another, but also provides approaches to reasoning about misalignments which arise when students and teachers approach their shared learning context from different perspectives. This framework is in this paper applied to address different aspects of professional identity with the intent of bringing forth deeper insights into challenges with educating towards professions. This issue is highly complex and the framework provides a structure that is beneficial for analysing different aspects in a more holistic manner.

In the modern fast changing world no formal education is able to provide learners with a complete set of knowledge, skills and competences that they would need to successfully compete on tomorrow's job market. Therefore, the role of universities is increasingly shifting towards provision of an environment where students have a chance to acquire lifelong learning skills. This paper presents underlying ideas of, and practical experiences with, an innovative pedagogy that addresses the lifelong learning skills acquisition along with additional benefits for science and technology students. The proposed approach, called self-flipped classroom (SFC), is built on a synergy of two pedagogies: learning through making and flipped classroom. To unveil the construct of the SFC, we discuss each of its components individually presenting appropriate theoretical grounding. We also report on our experiences from self-flipped classroom implementations in two countries, UK and Sweden, and in three different educational settings. From our work with the SFC concept we have identified four different roles the students can assume in a SFC scenario: creators, collaborators, communicators, and learners. We present our observations regarding the identified roles that have been found in the studied settings. We also outline some implications for teaching using the SFC concept and future research directions in this space.

This working group contributes to formulating a framework for modeling competencies in the current and future disciplines that comprise computing education. We draw upon the innovative approach taken in the curricular document for information technology (IT2017), curricular competency frameworks, other related documents such as the software engineering competency model (SWECOM), the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA), current research in competency models, and elicitation workshop results from other computing conferences. The outcomes contribute to the Computing Curricula 2020 (CC2020) project, and include the formulation and review of sets of disciplinary-relevant competencies for use in computing education. This work directly informs the CC2020 project sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the IEEE Computer Society.

2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the first conference on software engineering, organized by NATO, which took place in 1968 in Garmisch, Germany. At that time, the terms “software crisis” and “software engineering” have been coined. Both terms have accompanied and shaped computer science in research, practice and education over the last 50 years. This anniversary is reason enough to look back, what has been achieved, but also to look forward. In this panel discussion, the challenges seen at the time will be reflected from today’s perspective, and successes and real progress over the last 50 years will be discussed, with an emphasis on the education of software engineering. How close are teaching and learning aligned with industry needs and the daily tasks of software developers? Future challenges and necessary further developments will be discussed together with the plenary. The panel uses the fishbowl approach with one open space so that people from the audience can join the discussion.

One of the challenges in being a teacher is to set up an educational setting where the students receive relevant learning opportunities for the specific course, the students' education in general, and for their future. However, efforts to create such educational settings do not always work in the way that faculty has intended. In this paper we investigate one such effort seen from a critical incident perspective. Central to the analysis in this paper is how the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) can provide explanations for the incident. The critical incident can be summarised as students refusing to take part in a non-compulsory, but from the faculty perspective highly educational, activity. We describe the incident in depth, give the background for the educational intervention, and analyse the incident from the perspective of TPB. This paper makes two major contributions to engineering education research. The first is the development of a method for analysing critical teaching and learning incidents using the TPB. The critical incident analysis illustrates how the method is used to analyse and reason about the students' behaviour. Another contribution is the development of a range of insights which deal with challenges raised by learning interventions, especially those involved with acquiring hidden or “invisible skills” not usually seen or acknowledged by students to belong to core subject area of a degree program.

A key component of the tertiary education system is the negotiation of common expectations in terms of pedagogy and the manner in which learning is scaffolded in the learning context. This paper addresses this interplay of perspectives by drawing on two elements of our previous work, a longitudinal study of student identity development [1] and a study contrasting project course students' experiences with teachers' expectations [2]. The paper develops a model of student interaction with teachers and the higher education system, which contributes to a better understanding of the consequences of recent changes and trends in higher education, e.g. demands for activating students, increased level of detail in course specifications, and examination of “non-core subject content”. This is an immensely complex area and we approach this challenge with a focus on the issue of students rejecting learning opportunities. Through this lens we will identify and illustrate some essential aspects of how to adapt educational settings to better accommodate how students behave and view the goal of their education.

Globalisation of both the workplace and higher education is a fact for many Universities and Industries. For the universities the challenge lies both in identifying the needs and developing pedagogies suitable for preparing their students to become a workforce that can contribute in a global economy. Thus, a central issue is how to provide an appropriate level of background knowledge and skills which contribute to the success of the individual in the workplace, and to the success of their employers. Helping students develop the skills required for success in global software development teams provides a number of unique challenges and opportunities for the designers of engineering degree programmes. A central issue is that students bring with them local cultural norms, different native languages, and rhetorical traditions, which place an additional burden to the already difficult task of working effectively in a student engineering team. The contribution of this paper is the presentation of two learning activities; 1) structured role-play and 2) hypothetical archetypes, used within a method we call the “Archetype Learning Method” (ALM). The activities are geared towards enhancing the students' awareness of the underlying complexities inherent in participating in global software engineering and through that provide scaffolding to the development of teamwork skills. Our method provides students with strategies for engaging more productively in teamwork in a global context, hence contributing to the systematic development of one of the critical professional skills identified in the CHAOS report.

This paper studies the first computing education summer camp of its kind in Sweden. Semi-structured interviews were performed with six of the camp's instructors focusing on their teaching experiences in relation to the instructional content and the children. The instructors struggled with meeting the wide range in children's programming experience, suggesting a lack of pedagogical knowledge. The results also shed some light on the challenges and advantages related to recruitment, content, and teaching strategy. Awareness of the camp instructors' experiences enables computing instructors, in both formal and informal settings, to enhance the design of learning environments for children.

Active learning is a popular concept for motivating learning. Learning agreements are one strategy towards this goal. They can be used to aid the students to take ownership of their learning and in becoming more active in a course. Learning Agreements are especially useful tools for scaffolding learning in courses with a focus on developing the professional competencies of students, such as in Open Ended Group Projects, Work Integrated Learning or other authentic learning contexts. Such educational contexts are complex and we have found it necessary to scaffold student learning using agreements based on professional competencies. This has led to a pedagogical framework, which has found successful application in a number of contexts. This framework has been built based on discussions with students, and has involved the development of a supporting wiki which contains descriptions of the different professional competencies involved in the learning agreement. The IT based framework has been iteratively developed together with the students taking the course in the fall of 2015. The development and assessment of this framework is contrasted in the context of two courses using learning agreements, one (in Sweden) with a focus on development of professional competencies and the other (in New Zealand) addressing a mix of professional competencies and subject knowledge in a work integrated learning setting.

How can students be included as critical stakeholders in the systems and services provided by a university? To address the whole student experience, we engaged students and employees at a large Swedish university in a vision seminar process to elicit how these groups envisioned an ideal future university, and the necessary changes to technology and organisational structures required to achieve this ideal version. The process entailed six four-hour workshops with four groups consisting of six participants each. A survey instrument was used to follow up on the participants' experiences of participating in the vision seminar process and their thoughts on the future of the university. The results show that the participating students were more positive compared to the university employees. The students envisioned harmonized interdepartmental systems, seamlessly integrating a variety of services into one university-provided solution. The employees envisioned their future work as flexible, enabled by technology providing excellent support without hindering pedagogical and organisational development. Using technological frames, these visions of the future are identified, analysed and discussed in relation to the quality of university education and a holistic view on students' university experience. Finally we discuss the broader implications of the visions on the future of university education.

We examine the concept of motivation from the perspective of Self Determination Theory and give a brief overview of relevant results. We also consider the optimal state known as "Flow" and give an account of its conceptualisation in the theory due to Csikszentmihalyi. After discussion of ways in which these concepts can be measured, we describe a set of preliminary studies that investigate motivation and flow in the context of a first year computing class. We analyse student responses to enquiries about perceptions of motivation and flow experiences and look at links between them. We also discuss intrinsic motivation within the subject.

The rapid development in the IT area brings a series of shifts, in underlying theories, technology and work practices. In the normal course of events, most changes are evolutionary, with small, incremental improvements being made to theoretical understanding or practical application. Occasionally, however, changes occur of such magnitude that they do not just alter current operational practice but require a thorough reappraisal of the underlying assumptions on which that practice is based. In short, they require a review of the dominant way of thinking, or paradigm. Ability to adapt to evolving circumstances is critical, not only for industrial and commercial organisations, but also for individual employees, to survive and remain successful during paradigm shifts. How can we prepare our students so they can survive in a working life characterized by frequent paradigm shifts? It is important that CS and IT education prepares students for coping with shifts induced by technological development in their future careers, that students develop the competencies needed. To understand what competencies are needed, it is important to investigate characteristics among employees that have flourished in earlier paradigm shifts and not least to build knowledge on how to develop learning environments where such competencies and personal characteristics can be achieved This paper is about setting the stage for an action research project aimed at enhancing education with regard to being able to survive paradigm shifts in the IT industry.

Globally distributed group projects are becoming an attractive and increasingly common feature in computer science education. They provide opportunities for students to engage in activities that enhance both their technical skills and wider professional competencies with concomitant benefits for graduate employability. There have been some previous attempts to investigate these projects in terms of theories of technology use and collaborative learning, and this paper continues this process by examining globally distributed group projects from the perspective of salient issues in the fields of computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) and computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). After detailing CSCW models that discuss the dimensions that characterise interaction and technology use in groups, we examine aspects of group learning from the perspective of theories of CSCL. Issues of cooperation versus collaboration, motivation for learning and models of group cognition are discussed in the context of two specific group projects. Analysis of these examples allows us to characterise behaviour within groups and provide insights that can facilitate the formation and effective development of project teams. This has important educational implications for the success of these distributed group projects.

With a goal of preparing software engineering students for practice in today's global settings, Uppsala University has for some years run courses involving global collaboration. The "IT in Society" course is one such course which applies an 'Open Ended Group Project' model, in partnership with a local health sector client and global educational partners. Within each iteration of the course, students across the partnering institutions are given a brief around an open-ended problem. They work in collaboration with their client and stakeholders to investigate options and produce a report with their findings and recommendations, informed by global perspectives. The report may or may not be supported by working software prototypes. We analyze student evaluations & reflections on the course to unpack their perceptions of software engineering, the perceived relevance of a global learning experience and its role in reshaping their identities as global software engineers.

We investigate the link between concepts of perseverance such as conscientiousness and grit, and the academic attainment of first year computing students. We review the role that perseverance plays in learning models, as well as describing the trait of conscientiousness in the Five Factor Model of personality. We outline research that links this trait with academic success, before focussing on more recent, narrower conceptualisations of perseverance such as academic tenacity and grit. We describe one of the questionnaire tools that have been used to assess the construct of grit. We give details of an investigation that looked for correlations between student responses to Duckworth's Grit Survey, the Big Five Inventory (BFI) Personality Survey and summative attainment scores in a first year programming course. The results suggest a weak but significant correlation between conscientiousness, grit and programming achievement. We discuss these results as well as the limitations of the method used. Finally, we make some observations about the importance of these concepts in Computer Science education and outline further work in this area.

Better knowledge of the habits and preferences of patients helps one understand why and how patients might need or want to access health services online and offline. Such knowledge provides a basis for designing systems for providing complementary health information. This article discusses how patients' conceptualizations of their health‐information‐related preferences, motivations, and needs are linked to the perceived role of medical records as an informational artifact. We identified seven subject positions: (P1) Hypothetically positive to e‐health services generally, (P2) Positive to reading medical records due to implications, (P3) Positive to all Internet use including medical records online, (P4) Distrustful and wants to be in control of health treatment, (P5) Worried about health, (P6) Wants communication with health care professionals, and (P7) Do not understand their medical record. These subject positions can explain the worry and enthusiasm documented in earlier literature. The diversity of subject positions implies that health care information services should be planned with different subject positions in mind rather than a simple demographic group. Special attention needs to be given to finding flexible solutions that address the opportunities and worries of the identified subject positions.

Critical thinking is one of the key competencies listed by OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) [1], a central European Community organization, and is also mentioned as a learning outcome for higher education by international organizations, such as ABET, ACM, and IEEE, as well as in numerous national and university legislations regarding higher education degrees. The ability to communicate, not least in writing, is another important competence our students are supposed to gain during their education. There is thus high agreement regarding the importance of these competencies, but it is not clear how to achieve this.

The main features of the Scrum process are intense communication between different stakeholders, and rapid feedback based on regular delivery of working software. The integration of traditional user-centred evaluation activities in this context is challenging. Hence, this paper presents an interview study of 21 informants, categorised in four different professional roles. The main contribution of the paper is an overview of the types of user-centred evaluation conducted by information technology professionals in various Scrum projects. Results show that various forms of feedback are indeed gathered on the usability and user experience of the software, system or service being developed. However, the user-centred evaluations conducted typically are informal with few users, gathering empirical qualitative data and performed during short unplanned sessions. Performance measurements gathering quantitative data are seldom used. The informants in the business specialist role merely ask users about their opinion, whereas the other roles use several user-centred evaluation activities to gather feedback on their design. Generally, feedback is gathered throughout the whole project, but often evaluation is conducted early in the project or even before the actual development starts. Finally, these results are discussed in relation to previous studies in the area.

“Personal Epistemology” is the analysis of the ways in which an individual perceives what constitutes knowledge, its boundaries, how it is justified, and how it is related to learning. While investigation of metacognitive strategies used by students is now an established research topic within Computer Science and Information Technology education, the study of personal epistemology is relatively undeveloped. This is so despite there being significant epistemological issues associated with learning the subject itself, such as those concerned with the way in which programming exercises change from convergent to divergent problems, or the process by which software project management problems very quickly become ill-defined. In this paper, we describe a preliminary investigation into the personal epistemology of two cohorts of computing students. We review some models of personal epistemological development and describe an empirical study in which we investigated the dimensions of epistemological beliefs of two cohorts of computing students. The results show that there appears to be a wide range of epistemological belief amongst computing students. Finally, we make some observations about the importance of personal epistemology for learning in Computer Science and outline further work in this area.

In this paper, we investigate the personal epistemology of computing students, that is, their conceptions of knowledge and learning. We review some models of personal epistemological development and describe one of the questionnaire tools that have been used to assess the epistemological beliefs of students studying in other disciplines. We describe an experiment that uses one of these tools, together with exploratory factor analysis, to determine the dimensions of epistemological beliefs of a cohort of computing students and compare the results with that reported in other contexts. The results, while not reproducing the details of previous work, do seem to suggest that there are indeed multiple dimensions to personal epistemology, and that these can be identified, to a large extent, with those recognised by other researchers. Finally, we make some observations about the importance of personal epistemology for learning in Computer Science and outline further work in this area.

Possibilities for collaboration in globally distributed projects have radically changed with the introduction of new Collaborative Technologies (CTs) in the Web 2.0 era. The use of such technologies in the context of students collaborating in a globally distributed project is little explored in research. A better understanding would provide opportunities for improving the collaboration, and more importantly is that a better understanding would improve the possibility of scaffolding, and student learning in general. In this paper we present results from a study of students' use of CTs in a globally distributed project with a focus on the challenges encountered in trying to collaborate using this technology. The study is focused on a few aspects of how a combination of CTs could be utilized and issues associated with their set up and adaption for use. We discuss potential reasons for the observed patterns of technology use and how they influenced the collaboration environment around a globally distributed student project.

Knowledge and experience from working in international collaborative projects prepares engineering students for their future careers in a global market. Hence this is an important element in higher education, although seldom provided in the curriculum. One reason for this lack might be uncertainty in how to manage international collaborations and to create a good learning environment for the development of skills related to international collaborations. Therefore this article describes our experiences from managing international student collaborations including theoretical underpinning for our choices when relevant. Having given the context of, and the strategies for running our two collaborations, we provide an analysis of our experiences. This includes observations of differences in the two collaborations, both when due to use of different strategies and when due to different contexts, as well as observations of similarities. With this in mind, we present recommendations for running international student collaborations.

Collaborative Technology (CT) plays an important role in overcoming the challenges of globally distributed projects. It enables collaboration, but the specific choice of technology also imposes constraints on how projects are conducted. Over the past decade, we have engaged in an action research programme to develop an Open-Ended Group Project situated in an educational framework in which international collaboration, including interaction with a real world client, is an essential component. This paper investigates the manner in which students reflected on their patterns of CT use within the collaborative setting. In general, these reflections were found to be superficial and descriptive, exhibiting a reductive view of CT as a set of technological features, which acted as a neutral medium for communication and participation. One consequence of this was a lack of awareness of the ways in which the technology influenced the behaviour of individual students or the collaborative nature of the group. We explore some potential causes for this and reflect on some difficulties faced by the students. These have important pedagogical implications for courses in which the learning objectives include the development of suitable competencies for working in a global collaborative environment.

This paper reports on a study conducted at a Swedish university in which engineering students reflect on their attainment of professional competencies using generic graduate attributes as a guiding framework. In this study, the nine graduate attributes from Curtin University in Perth, Australia were used as this framework. The Swedish students were asked to reflect on their understanding of the competencies, and to select three on which to focus over the course of the semester. Students predominantly selected professional skills, thinking skills, information skills, communication skills, and intercultural understanding. In a subsequent reflection, students were asked to self-assess improvement of their chosen attributes. Results showed that while the teaching staff judged that the students had further developed the competencies, students lacked a framework to see this for themselves and reported difficulty in reflecting on progress in professional competency attainment. This suggests that a more holistic approach should be taken earlier in the degree to focus student attention on professional competencies, and provide ongoing experience reflecting on progressive achievement.

The concept of user-centred systems design (UCSD) has no agreed upon definition. Consequently, there is a great variety in the ways it is applied, which may lead to poor quality and poor usability in the resulting systems, as well as misconceptions about the effectiveness of UCSD. The purpose of this paper is to propose a definition of UCSD. We have identified 12 key principles for the adoption of a user-centred development process, principles that are based on existing theory, as well as research in and experiences from a large number of software development projects. The initial set of principles were applied and evaluated in a case study and modified accordingly. These principles can be used to communicate the nature of UCSD, evaluate a development process or develop systems development processes that support a user-centred approach. We also suggest activity lists and some tools for applying UCSD.

Work environment and occupational health problems of different nature are constantly increasing in computer supported work. Most efforts to improve the work environment are focused primarily on physical aspects, and to some extent on psychosocial aspects. Mental workload and cognitive problems are of a more complex nature, more difficult to measure and provide efficient solutions to, and are more seldom studied or solved. Solutions to work environment problems are usually applied to already existing work situations through improved equipment and work place design, health programmes, education, reorganizations, etc. The problems are seldom prevented by means of applying relevant methods early in the systems development process, before the artefacts have been designed and implemented. This paper, and the following papers of this special issue, will focus on the need to integrate different interdisciplinary methods at different phases in the development process of computerized support systems, with the ultimate goal to prevent work environment problems and decrease the health risks to the users.