Introductory programming courses often present significant challenges for computer science students, particularly due to differences in prior programming experience. To address this issue, we implemented a self-placement intervention designed to complement traditional academic advising. Unlike traditional placement exams, which assess specific programming skills under test conditions, our approach emphasizes student agency by integrating informed self-placement principles. To evaluate the effectiveness of the self-placement questionnaire for introductory programming courses, we analyzed the overall match rate, the consistency of its recommendations across multiple questionnaire attempts, and their alignment with students' eventual enrollments. Our pilot results suggest that the questionnaire provided meaningful guidance.

Novice student compilation behaviors are well documented by prior research, but those findings are derived from instructional contexts that are largely in English-dominant locales. Speakers of languages other than English face unique challenges while learning to program like partial localization of applications and programming language syntax based on English-only keywords. This study examines compiler errors of novice programming students from different native language backgrounds to explore potential differences in their error distributions relative to those in English dominant contexts. For example, it is plausible that students from non-English language backgrounds would experience more "unknown identifier" types of errors while programming with English keywords and API methods. Using data from the BlueJ Blackbox database, we analyzed error distributions for users based on country and language group characteristics. Statistical analysis showed a statistically significant difference in error distributions between native language groups; however, effect sizes were very weak indicating that the differences have little practical significance in terms of guiding either language or instructional design. However, these results may support drawing broader inferences from earlier Java compilation behavior studies to global contexts.

Computational Thinking Bins are stand alone, individual boxes, each containing an activity for groups of students that teaches a computing concept.We have a devised a system that has allowed us to create an initial set, test the set, continually improve and add to our set. We currently use these bins in outreach events for middle and high school students. As we have shared this resource with K-12 teachers, many have expressed an interest in acquiring their own set. In this paper we will share our experience throughout the process, introduce the bins, and explain how you can create your own set.

The increasing awareness for the need of effective Computer Science Education (CSE) Professional Development (PD) at the K-12 grade levels has been demonstrated by the increase in grant funding for CSE PD programs, public awareness campaigns by industry, and scale-up initiatives in schools. While the increase in funding has led to increasing availability of PD programs, funding alone does not guarantee a successful experience for teachers. This study investigates the affective experiences of a cohort of ten in-service teachers (nine middle school and one high school) as they participate in an intensive, multi-faceted summer CSE PD program at a Midwestern metropolitan university in North America. Teachers' experiences were documented in their written daily journals, which were analyzed qualitatively using thematic and sentiment analysis techniques. We find five cognitive themes that recurred throughout the program along with sentiment values associated with daily activities. Through the examination of these results, recommendations regarding how to best engage teachers by understanding their concerns and affective responses are included to help design more effective CSE PD implementations.

Video-enabled education is becoming increasingly popular in support of active learning in CS education. Although present work on both video based learning and flipped classrooms emphasize the necessity for students to view the materials, there is a lack of detailed, objective data on student viewing behaviors. This article aims to use fine grain student log data from TrACE, an asynchronous media platform, to understand student viewing behaviors in three sections of a flipped CS1 course taught by the same instructor. We find that students often have low compliance with video viewing expectations in one section, and that re-watching course content does not often occur. Watching course content earlier has a significant correlation to course performance, and other behaviours correlate when compliance is not enforced via course requirements. These findings highlight concerns for flipped classroom researchers and suggest methods instructors can use to improve student viewing behaviors.

The use of multimedia content such as video is becoming more prevalent in educational environments. However, current platforms for hosting these media provide few collaborative tools to foster social learning between students or request help from instructors. In this paper, we explore the potential of spatiotemporal anchored collaboration, and we present a prototype media-playback environment called TrACE that exemplifies the approach. We examine a first design-based research (DBR) pilot deployment of TrACE in two post-secondary courses. Results indicate that students do take advantage of the system's affordances to interact in meaningful ways, though overall student annotation authoring was limited. Using the pilot data, we propose socio-technical modifications for the next iteration in the DBR cycle. Specifically we focus on tools to support instructors' use of the system and for promoting collaboration between students.

The error quotient (EQ) was first reported in 2006 as a behavioral measure of novice programmers. The EQ scores how well students deal with correcting syntax errors (or not) in their programs. The original studies were carried out on data collected using BlueJ, a pedagogic Java programming environment; today, newly installed instances of BlueJ capture data similar to these early studies automatically, meaning data regarding nearly 2 million programmers is captured every year by the Blackbox project. In this paper, we apply Jadud's original error quotient algorithm to this new, massive data set, and discuss our results and analysis in light of related work. Further, we consider the implications of our findings for researchers and educators in applying the EQ to 27,698 users in 10 different countries during the fall term of 2013.

Web development is an inherently interdisciplinary field that offers a unique introductory path to computing prior to more traditional programming courses. While significant earlier work has investigated the challenges that novice web developers encounter, little research is available about teaching while coping with the field's considerable breadth. This paper reports findings from interviews with practicing web design instructors in secondary and post-secondary teaching environments. We present emergent themes related to recruitment strategies, student expectations, teaching techniques, and common challenges. We find significant effort is needed to cope with mismatches between students' expectations of what web design is and the HTML/CSS syntax-oriented view of the discipline often emphasized by teachers. We conclude with implications for new teaching tools that would help better sustain student motivation while equipping them with fundamental skills in web development.

Access to high quality K-12 computer science education has garnered considerable public attention in the United States in the wake of Code.org's December 2013 Hour of Code. An increasing number of states are now counting CS coursework towards high school graduation requirements, and teacher certification for computing courses is being revisited across the country. In this work, we explore the current state of computer science education in Nebraska public schools using objective enrollment data from the 2013-2014 academic year. We find limited access to introductory programming courses, while basic computer/IT literacy coursework is commonplace. Lack of CS courses is particularly acute in small schools, which make up a majority of Nebraska's public schools. We also present data illustrating limited pursuit of IT teaching endorsement/certification in the state and highlight current issues for teacher training programs that lead to such certification in Nebraska.

CS teacher development has become a major effort for the SIGCSE community in part due to NSF's CS10K efforts and expanding CSTA involvement. However there are few examples of university courses explicitly designed to train CS teachers. We do not yet have clarity on the topics CS education methods courses should cover and how best to prepare teachers to teach learners new to computational problem solving and programming. As an interdisciplinary field of study, CS education must necessarily draw on domain knowledge in CS, research in computing education, as well as research in education and the learning sciences about how students learn, both generally and in computing. At the same time, a methods course must provide prospective teachers with practical, hands-on experiences wherein they integrate research-based best practices with age-appropriate content for their target student population.

Many people are first exposed to code through web development, yet little is known about the barriers beginners face in these formative experiences. In this article, we describe a study of undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory web development course taken by both computing majors and general education students. Using data collected during the initial weeks of the course, we investigate the nature of the syntax errors they make when learning HTML and CSS, and how they resolve them. This is accomplished through the deployment of openHTML, a lightweight web-based code editor that logs user activity. Our analysis reveals that nearly all students made syntax errors that remained unresolved in their assessments, and that these errors continued weeks into the course. Approximately 20% of these errors related to the relatively complex system of rules that dictates when it is valid for HTML elements to be nested in one another. On the other hand, 35% of errors related to the relatively simple tag syntax determining how HTML elements are nested. We also find that validation played a key role in resolving errors: While the majority of unresolved errors were present in untested code, nearly all of the errors that were detected through validation were eventually corrected. We conclude with a discussion of our findings and their implications for computing education.

A student's capacity to learn a concept is directly related to how much cognitive load is used to comprehend the material. The central problem identified by Cognitive Load Theory is that learning is impaired when the total amount of processing requirements exceeds the limited capacity of working memory. Instruction can impose three different types of cognitive load on a student's working memory: intrinsic load, extraneous load, and germane load. Since working memory is a fixed size, instructional material should be designed to minimize the extraneous and intrinsic loads in order to increase the amount of memory available for the germane load. This will improve learning. To effectively design instruction to minimize cognitive load we must be able to measure the specific load components for any pedagogical intervention. This paper reports on a study that adapts a previously developed instrument to measure cognitive load. We report on the adaptation of the instrument to a new discipline, introductory computer science, and the results of measuring the cognitive load factors of specific lectures. We discuss the implications for the ability to measure specific cognitive load components and use of the tool in future studies.

With a growing awareness of the importance of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and User Experience (UX) Design and Research in industry, many departments are examining ways to integrate this topic into their curriculum. What are the best ways to do this? Should HCI and UX be integrated into existing courses such as event-driven programming or mobile computing? Or should it be a separate course that integrates visual design, psychology and ergonomics? How important is this topic to students looking for internships and entry-level jobs? At what levels should these topics be taught in the curriculum? This is important as there is a growing demand in industry for User Experience specialists due to an increased focus on software quality and product success. A major complaint of employers is that this skill is lacking in many college graduates. Teaching computing students how to incorporate UX into the design and development process helps to address this critical need. This BOF will let participants share their ideas and learn from their peers. This is particularly relevant as the HCI Knowledge Area of the IEEE/ACM CS Curriculum 2013 is currently being developed. In fact, the chair of the HCI Knowledge Area (Sally Fincher) is seeking real examples of how HCI is taught in curricula across a variety of institutions and settings. After the BOF, we will share a summary of our BOF discussion with the chair.

We have begun the process of examining how students perceive the field of computer science by employing a novice-to-expert continuum framework. As part of this exploration we have developed and are validating the Computing Attitudes Survey (CAS). In this study, our research focuses on how students develop expert-like attitudes and what effect an introductory course may have on that development. In particular, we find that the CAS instrument can be used to detect pre/post attitude shifts after a single introductory course of instruction and that individual subpopulations show positive attitude gains across gender, area of study and pedagogy Further, the CAS can also be used to identify significant pre/post attitude shifts among individual component factors, groupings of items on the survey that characterize different aspects of novice thought processes.

The Computing Attitudes Survey (CAS) is a newly designed instrument, adapted from the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS), for measuring novice to expert-like perceptions about computer science. In this paper we outline the iterative design process used for the adaptation and present our progress toward establishing the instrument's validity. We present results of think-aloud interviews and discuss procedures used to determine expert consensus for CAS items. We also detail results of a pilot of the instrument with 447 introductory students in Fall 2011 along with a preliminary factor analysis of this data. Findings to date show consistent interpretation of statements by faculty and students, establish expert consensus of opinion and identify eight candidate factors for further analysis.

Informal learning resources have the potential to reach millions of currently underserved learners teaching themselves about the basics of computing using the Web, example code, peer networks, books, and other materials. In this paper, we investigate the effectiveness of case-based learning aids (CBLAs) as a resource to scaffold informal education in scripting for web and graphic design. We present the design of a new CBLA called ScriptABLE and outline initial evaluation results with respect to its ability to foster both programming ability and more expert understanding of computing concepts.

This paper reports on a study of professional web designers and developers. We provide a detailed characterization of their knowledge of fundamental programming concepts elicited through card sorting. Additionally, we present qualitative findings regarding their motivation to learn new concepts and the learning strategies they employ. We find a high level of recognition of basic concepts, but we identify a number of concepts that they do not fully understand, consider difficult to learn, and use infrequently. We also note that their learning process is motivated by work projects and often follows a pattern of trial and error. We conclude with implications for end-user programming researchers.

This paper presents findings of an exploratory, qualitative study of professional web and graphic designers who regularly write computer programs. These participants have a wide variety of educational backgrounds, including some who had a few classes in computer science. Our participants report having found a career in which they enjoy being both creative and technical. They want to learn more about computing, but do not find computing curricula as meeting their needs. We discuss their perceptions of the computing discipline, motivational aspects of their jobs, and their interest in learning more about computing. We also consider implications for computing curricula if we were to try to meet the needs of these professionals who are unlikely to appear in our current classes.

The ubiquity of personal computational devices in the lives of today's students presents a meaningful context for courses in computer organization beyond the general-purpose or imaginary processors routinely used. This article presents results of a comparative study examining student performance in a conventional organization course and in one that has been contextualized using a personal gaming platform as the pedagogical architecture. We find minimal differences in student learning but significant motivation and engagement gains for those in the contextualized course.

End-user programming provides a unique opportunity to study informal computer science education and knowledge acquisition in the real world. We seek to explore the use of community-based scaffolding to deliver computing content knowledge to an audience of graphic design professionals who engage in scripting. We propose an online community that leverages prepared, instructional case studies alongside tools that promote collaborative development and code review activities.

Previous studies of end-user programmers have indicated a reliance on related examples for learning. Accordingly, we analyzed the projects contained in an online community with respect to their use of introductory computing constructs. In general, the projects resemble those of novice programmers, implying the opportunity for supporting additional learning. Project authors' attention to matters of intellectual property may also directly impact other end-users' willingness to learn.

We introduce end-user programmers as a group of persons engaged in informal Computer Science education. Results of a small-scale survey for a previously unstudied population of end-users, users of graphics manipulation software, are presented. We find that graphic designers are taking part in significant programming activities, despite little to no formal training in programming. We discuss what draws them to programming, what they know about Computer Science, and where they seek help. We also consider ways in which we might further support the Computer Science learning that takes place in end-user settings.

Jeroo is a tool that has been developed to help students in beginning programming courses learn the semantics of fundamental control structures, learn the basic notions of using objects to solve problems, and learn to write methods that support a functional decomposition of the task. Jeroo is similar to Karel the Robot and its descendants, but has a narrower scope than Karel's descendants and has a syntax that provides a smoother transition to either Java or C++. Jeroo has been class tested at Northwest Missouri State University, and has proven to be an effective tool for working with students in a beginning programming class. Jeroo and user documentation are available at http://www.nwmissouri.edu/~sanders/Jeroo/Jeroo.html.