No abstract available.

How do you engage students in the computer science classroom? In this Demo Session we will examine this question within the context of EngageCSEdu (http://www.engage-csedu.org), a web-based collection of instructional materials for introductory CS classes. Developed by computer scientists, social scientists, and learning scientists from California State University, Long Beach, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh, the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), and Google, EngageCSEdu is comprised of ~1500 instructional materials (such as assignments, projects, labs, and assessments) and 17 Engagement Practices (strategies and techniques for engaging and retaining students based on CS education and social science research). During this session we will demonstrate key features of EngageCSEdu, discuss how research-based findings on gender diversity and student engagement were used in its development, and invite participants to contribute their ideas for engaging and retaining students. Attendees will explore EngageCSEdu with members of the original development team and discuss how this focused and comprehensive open collection of instructional materials can be effectively used to support instructors. As a product by and for the CS education community, this demo is an opportunity for potential users to provide valuable feedback and input into the ongoing development and dissemination of materials on EngageCSEdu. By the end of this demonstration participants will be more familiar with the research-based factors shown to increase engagement among undergraduate students, particularly women and underrepresented minorities, and have an opportunity to play an active role in positioning EngageCSEdu within the CS education community.

What measurable effect do the language and paradigm used in early programming classes have on novice programmers' ability to do design? This work investigates the question by using data collected from 136 first competency students as part of a multi-national, multi-institutional study of students' approach to and attitudes toward design. Analysis of a number of surface characteristics of their designs found strikingly few differences between designs produced by students at schools that teach using objects-early, imperative-early, and functional-early paradigms. A similar lack of difference was found between students at C++-first and Java-first schools. While statistically significant differences are found for three characteristic comparisons across language and paradigm, these results seem to have little meaning for teaching given the complexity of the null hypotheses tested in those three cases. In particular, for the following design characteristics no statistically significant differences across language or paradigm of early instruction were found: attempt to address requirements, type of design produced, number of parts in design, recognition of ambiguity in design, and connectedness of design.

Successful software engineering requires experience and acknowledgment of complexity, including that which leads designers to recognize ambiguity within the software design description itself. We report on a study of 21 post-secondary institutions from the USA, UK, Sweden, and New Zealand. First competency and graduating students as well as educators were asked to perform a software design task. We found that as students go from first competency to graduating seniors they tend to recognize ambiguities in under-specified problems. Additionally, participants who recognized ambiguity addressed more requirements of the design.