A new computer science curriculum has been developed for the Victorian Certificate of Education. It gives students direct entry into second year University computer science. The curriculum focuses on data structures and algorithms, with an emphasis on the graph abstract data type and graph algorithms. We taught a pilot course during 2014 involving students from seven schools, and administered an algorithmic thinking quiz on entry and exit, and also tested a first year university reference group. In this paper we present the curriculum and report on the evaluation. We discuss the effectiveness of our approach and make recommendations for improving future versions of the course. Pedagogical issues are discussed in relation to the cognitive education literature on the teaching of algorithmic thinking.

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A variety of representations in the UK Curriculum are introduced in the form of diagram/pictorial mixtures (e.g. pictograms). It is argued that conflating the two graphical forms is bad educational practice [5] - one which might be implicated in the development of “graph-as-picture” misconceptions. We describe an interactive educational diagram system that facilitates diagram comprehension and exploits new paradigms of teaching and research methodology.

This paper describes PATSy, an established interactive case-based system that provides students with access to virtual patients. PATSy has recently been extended by the addition of vicarious learning (VL) support to users of one of its subject areas (speech and language therapy). Vicarious learning is the idea that people can and will learn through being given access to the learning experiences of others. The PATSy extension (VL-PATSy) is also described - it consists of a database of VL resources together with a rule-based delivery system. Each VL resource is a short video clip of two students (or a student and tutor) engaged in discussions about various aspects of diagnosing a patient's language disorder. PATSy and VL-PATSy represent an adaptive system for combining case-based teaching and learning with vicarious learning. The paper concludes with a description of an evaluation of VL's effectiveness that is currently underway.