Computer Science Degree Programs Research Articles

Towards a multidimensional measure of self-efficacy in the adult learning ecosystem

ABSTRACT For adults engaged in formal learning, self-efficacy judgements may have substantial impact on key learning attitudes and outcomes. A complex systems/person-centric perspective emphasises the importance of contextual features of adult life, yet extant study of self-efficacy is largely constrained to judgements of competence in course activities. This approach may omit critical information about adult learners’ motivational beliefs. We developed a multidimensional measure of adult learning self-efficacy and provided initial validation data using a sample of 1200 working adults in an online Masters of Computer Science degree program. Our results suggest that adult learning self-efficacy (SE) is a multidimensional construct assessing self-perceived competence in 1) integrating learning and non-learning demands (Adaptive SE), 2) achieving mastery of course content (Academic SE), and 3) leveraging learning for professional growth (Transfer SE). Academic SE was further distinguishable by efficacy for memory and problem solving (Academic-MP) and for maintaining attentional focus (Academic-F). Our measure contributes to the literature on adult learning ecosystems by expanding research on motivational beliefs to include self-efficacy for managing critical contextual features of adult learning.

Creative Coding as Method and Goal in a Gender Diverse First-Year Seminar

FIERCE (Fostering Inclusion by Engaging in Real-world Computing Education) is a first-year academic program for gender diverse students entering UMass's computer science or informatics degree program. In response to feedback that students wanted to be exposed to more actual programming prompts in addition to the more theoretical content which was the focus of the previous year's seminar, this year's seminar is focused on Creative Coding.

Complete Integration of Team Project-Based Learning Into a Database Syllabus

Team project-based learning (TPBL) combines two learning techniques: 1) project-based learning (PBL) and 2) teamwork. This combination leverages the learning outcomes of both methods and places students in a real work situation where they must develop and solve a real project while working as a team. TPBL has been used in two advanced database subjects in Jaume I University (UJI)’s Computer Science degree program. This learning method was used for four years (academic years from 2018/2019 to 2021/2022) with positive outcomes. This study presents the project development, which includes teamwork formation, activities, timetable, and exercised learning competencies (both soft and specific). Further, the project’s results were evaluated from three different perspectives: 1) teamwork evaluation by teammates; 2) students’ opinions on the subject and project; and 3) subject final grades.

USQA: A User Story Quality Analyzer prototype for supporting software engineering students

AbstractThe Standish Group Reports 83.9% of IT Projects fail, and one of the top factors in failed projects is the incomplete requirements or user stories. Therefore, it is essential to teach undergraduate students from computer science degree programs how to create complete user stories. Computer science programs include some subjects or topics involving requirements or user stories collection and writing, such as Requirements Engineering, Software Engineering, Project Management, or Quality Software Assurance. For that reason, we designed a web application called User Story Quality Analyzer (USQA) that uses Natural Language Processing modules to detect errors regarding aspects of usefulness, completeness, and polysemes in the user stories creation. The tool was proved from three perspectives: (1) a reliability test, where 35 user stories developed by experts were tested in the app to prove the prototype's reliability; (2) usability and utility analysis; 48 students interacted with the tool and responded a Satisfaction Usability Scale and an open‐ended question, the students reported a high usability score; (3) finally, error classification, we gathered 159 user stories processed by the system, and we classified the students' common errors considering incompleteness and polysemes. After the evaluations, we concluded that USQA could evaluate the user stories as an expert, which could help the professors/teachers/instructors in their courses by providing feedback to the students when they are writing user stories.

Factors Affecting Computer Science Student's Academic Performance During Covid-19

Abstract : In this research, the factors that affect the computer science student's academic performance are investigated in the scenario of online learning induced by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is found that while staying at home, and getting tutored online, the academic achievement of the students of Computer Science gets affected by the following group of factors: Family characteristics (family causal factors), Student's academic characteristics, Social and personal characteristics, Psychological and Health Related Factors, Institutional characteristics, Teachers (academic causal factors), Perceptions about Online Learning, Perception about Computers. As opposed to the general usage of only the CGPA as a measure of the academic performance, this research introduces the online self-study time (OSST) as well, as a measure of the academic performance. A total of 170 students had responded to a questionnaire administered to them to assess the effects of the identified factors. The questionnaire was checked for reliability and validity as well, using construct reliability, indicator reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. The students were from various semesters of Bachelor of Computer Science degree program. The questionnaire data is subjected to the multinomial logistic regression analysis. Results have shown that there is relation that exists between the identified factors and the academic performance of the students that is reflected in their CGPA and the OSST. Keywords : COVID-19, Academic performance, Online learning, Online Self-study Time (OSST).

CS202X and SEP-KA Update

In a nutshell, CS202X refers to the current effort to revise the curricular guidelines for undergraduate degree programs in computer science. These revisions are being managed by a Steering Committe comprised of representatives from the ACM, IEEE-Computer Society, and AAAI. Following the previous curricular revisions in 2001 (CS'01) and 2013 (CS'13), the proposed guidelines are broadly partitioned into categories referred to as Knowledge Areas (KAs). Each KA has an associated sub-committee consisting of a Chair and members from the Steering Committee, as well as subject matter experts from the computing community. SEP refers to the Society, Ethics, and Profesionalism KA within the proposed CS202X curricular report.

Two Decades of Computing at the University of Belize

Computer science became a distinct academic discipline in the early 1950s. The first computer science degree program was founded in Belize around 45 years later, under the auspices of the nascent University College of Belize, which would subsequently become the University of Belize. We present a twenty-year synopsis of a degree program created in 1998 to build an undergraduate curriculum using the surge of computing in the country of Belize as a catalyst coupled with the recognition of the importance of computing for national development. The four-year undergraduate degree program has resulted in steady student enrolment over the past two decades featuring a female student population consistent with female enrolment in similar computer science programs globally. The study details the origins, development efforts, successes, challenges, and recommendations for the program's future development.

The teaching of computer ethics on computer science and related degree programmes. a European survey

Within the Computer Science community, many ethical issues have emerged as significant and critical concerns. Computer ethics is an academic field in its own right and there are unique ethical issues associated with information technology. It encompasses a range of issues and concerns including privacy and agency around personal information, Artificial Intelligence and pervasive technology, the Internet of Things and surveillance applications. As computing technology impacts society at an ever growing pace, there are growing calls for more computer ethics content to be included in Computer Science curricula. In this paper we present the results of a survey that polled faculty from Computer Science and related disciplines about teaching practices for computer ethics at their institutions. The survey was completed by respondents from 61 universities across 23 European countries. Participants were surveyed on whether or not computer ethics is taught to Computer Science students at each institution, the reasons why computer ethics is or is not taught, how computer ethics is taught, the background of staff who teach computer ethics and the scope of computer ethics curricula. This paper presents and discusses the results of the survey.

Entering or advancing in the IT labor market: The role of an online graduate degree in computer science

Online graduate degree programs, particularly in technical disciplines, represent a fast-growing market for higher education institutions. Yet, it is unclear how online degree programs fit within students' educational investment decisions and career goals. Based on a foundation of human capital theory, and using data from a 2017 survey of students enrolled in an online master's degree program in computer science at a highly ranked US university, this study explores how motivation for seeking an online graduate degree in computer science varies by student demographics and professional background/preparation. Results show two student markets: one for career mobility, including job advancement and/or career change, and another for skill building without consideration of mobility. Our results also show that while students come from diverse backgrounds, the primary driving factor for seeking the degree is determined by relevant professional experience. Implications for future study and online instructional design are discussed.

How to form a software engineering capstone team?

This research paper answers the question that how shall the students of software engineering undergraduate courses form teams for the capstone projects that can be cohesive too. In this research, 128 criteria for team formation are proposed for building teams for self-managing software engineering capstone projects. A comparison is also conducted to ascertain the level of cohesion among those teams that were formed using the proposed criteria and those that were not formed using the proposed criteria. The criteria were identified through a combination of qualitative questionnaire survey targeted at the graduated students of the past batches of Computer Science degree program and through synthesizing the literature on engineering capstone project teams identified under the guidance of KSAO framework for software engineering students. To check the effectiveness of the criteria, 100 students were asked to form the teams using the proposed criteria and other 100 students formed the teams without the proposed criteria. Those students that had used the proposed criteria for building teams and those that had formed teams without using the proposed criteria were asked to fill the modified Group Environment Questionnaire to ascertain the level of cohesion among the team members. The results were analyzed qualitatively and through descriptive quantification. The results show that the level of cohesion in teams that were formed using the proposed team building criteria was higher. There was a need for team building criteria in the literature on software engineering capstone project teams that conforms to a conceptual, theoretical framework; this gap is now filled through this research. This paper may also serve as a literature review paper for some readers.

Beyond course work: expanding what’s valued in computer science degree programs

PurposeAs the field of Computer Science (CS) continues to diversify and expand, the need for undergraduates to explore career possibilities and develop personalized study paths has never been greater. This reality presents a challenge for CS departments. How do the students striving to become competent professionals in an ever-changing field of study? How do they do this efficiently and effectively? This study addresses such questions by introducing RadGrad, an online application combining features of social networks, degree planners and serious games.Design/methodology/approachRadGrad application is designed to promote participation in extracurricular activities, value real-world experience and provide guidance for students planning their degrees. What follows is an exploration of how the application was designed, along with an analysis of how students used it in its first year.FindingsFindings suggest RadGrad helped students to participate in relevant community activities and take an active role in planning their degrees.Originality/valueThe paper describes the features of the application, introducing how the concept of Innovation, Competence and Experience (ICE) scores – rather than a GPAs – were used to motivate undergraduates to participate in extracurricular activities. Initial results suggest RadGrad and the concept ICE scores can be applied to any field where students are encouraged to gain real-world experience as part of their degree program. Lessons learned and future directions are discussed.

Teaching Game AI as an Undergraduate Course in Computational Media

We need to teach AI to students in and outside of traditional computer science degree programs, including those designer-engineer hybrid students who will design and implement games or engage in technical games research later. The need to rethink AI curriculum is pressing in a design education context because AI powers many emerging practical techniques such as drama management, procedural content generation, player modeling, and machine playtesting. In this paper, we describe a 5-year experimental effort to teach a Game AI course structured around a broad and expanding set of roles AI can play in game design (e.g., Adversary and Actor, as well as Design Assistant and Storyteller). This course sets up computer science and computer game design students to transform practices in the game industry as well as create new forms of media that were previously unreachable. Our students gained mastery over the relevant techniques and further demonstrated (via novel prototype systems) many new roles for AI along the way.

Lurking and participation in the virtual classroom: The effects of gender, race, and age among graduate students in computer science

Fully-online graduate degree programs are on the rise, generating new questions about how we conceptualize and measure student participation in the virtual classroom. To date, most studies examine participation patterns in single online and/or hybrid courses and do not take into account the demographic characteristics of online students. We develop and test hypotheses that address demographic differences in the nature and intensity of graduate student participation in online-only classrooms for a large degree program in computer science. This work is distinctive because it addresses participation across several classes and across multiple semesters. We select the Piazza forum because it is the required communication mechanism in the program that is the subject of our study. We extract Piazza discussion board activity logs from a sample of 1914 online computer science graduate students, specifically the numerical data indicating the type of access to Piazza students used. We distinguish between active (contributions), passive (viewership) participation and lurking behavior. Given the nature of the dependent variables of interest, we employ different forms of regression analysis. We use logistic regression to address the likelihood of non-participation in the online forum. We then use negative binomial regression to examine the intensity of passive and active engagement, and ordinary least squares regression to examine lurking behavior. We find that the intensity of participation varies by different demographic characteristics, including by age and by race/ethnicity, but not by gender. Our study also shows a notable impact of class size, where increasing class size is associated with decreasing levels of active participation and increasing lurking behavior.

Improving the Quality of “The Internet of Things” Instruction in Technology Management, Cybersecurity, and Computer Science

Many universities require end of course evaluations for all courses taught as tool for academic accreditation purposes. The reality is that often many academic departments either do not do anything or have no idea what to do when evaluations continue to be poor. As a result, students have fought back against this process to create their own on-line rating program, Rate My Professor.com, which allows students to give other students insights into who is a quality professor and who is not. This paper explores this use of mock teaching simulations, which are also called Micro-teaching approaches, as a quality management tool to improve the way students are taught in Technology Management, Cybersecurity, and Computer Science degree and certificate programs.

On Teaching Discrete Mathematics to Freshman Computer Science Students

Discrete Mathematics is an inevitable part of any undergraduate computer science degree programme. However, today's computer science student typically finds this to be at best a necessary evil with which they struggle to engage. Twenty years ago, we started to address this issue seriously in our university, and we have instituted a number of innovations throughout the years which have had a positive effect on engagement and, thus, attainment. In this paper, we describe and motivate the innovations which we introduced, and provide a detailed analysis of how and why engagement and attainment levels varied over two decades as a direct result of these innovations.

Development of a classification system for Mathematical Logic

The number of digital resources that exist in repositories and on the Internet in general is enormous. Recovering resources that fit with the user’s specific needs poses a problem. To solve this problem, metainformation is added to the resources. One type of metainformation is the classification of a resource using a classification system that is widely recognised and agreed upon by its users. In this way, each resource is assigned a precise place within the classification system, thus facilitating its location. This article proposes a taxonomy for the classification of the resources (notes, exercises, exams or programmes that could be stored within a digital repository) that are generated within the scope of a Mathematical Logic course for a computer science degree programme. It also describes how to represent the proposed taxonomy using the IMS-VDEX standard and how to integrate it in the LOM and Dublin Core metadata specifications and proposes a set of controlled vocabularies that make it possible to refine the taxonomic metainformation.

Predicting Students’ First-Year Academic Performance Using Entry Requirements for Faculty of Science in Kaduna State University, Kaduna – Nigeria

The study aimed to determine if any of the entry requirements such as Ordinary Level (OL) results, Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) scores or Post-UTME (PUTME) scores could predict an outstanding academic performance of first-year undergraduate students admitted into the Faculty of Science in the Kaduna State University, Kaduna. The study adopted the descriptive research design. A purposive sample of nine hundred and forty-three (943) first-year students constituted the population for the study were drawn from Computer Science, Mathematics and Physics undergraduate degree programmes from the Faculty of Science of the university who were admitted from the 2010/2011 to 2014/2015 academic sessions. The instruments for data collection were OL, UTME and first-year Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) results, which were coded and analysed with the aid of Computational Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) Coefficient and Multinomial Logistics Regression (MLR) were the statistics used to answer the four research questions used. The results revealed that with a weak correlation, OL is a good predictor on the CGPA, a dependent variable, for academic performance which holds true for students who are in the CGPA category of '1st class' and '2nd Class Lower' respectively. It concluded that the use of OL and UTME as instruments is not enough to select candidates for admission and therefore recommended that other instruments such as senior secondary school mock examinations need to be included as part of the entry requirements in the admission criteria.

Impact of Mathematics on the Theoretical Computer Science Course Units in the General Degree Program in Computer Science at Sri Lankan State Universities

Aim/Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify how Advanced level Mathematics and Mathematics course units offered at university level do impact on the academic performance of theoretical Computer Science course units. Background: In Sri Lankan state universities, students have been enrolled only from the Physical Science stream to do a degree program in Computer Science. In addition to that, universities have been offering some course units in Mathematics to provide the required mathematical maturity to Computer Science undergraduates. Despite of this it is observed that the failure rates in fundamental theoretical Computer Science course units are much higher than other course units offered in the general degree program every year. Methodology : Academic records comprised of all 459 undergraduates from three consecutive batches admitted to the degree program in Computer Science from a university were considered for this study. Contribution: This study helps academics in identifying suitable curricula for Mathematics course units to improve students’ performance in theoretical Computer Science courses. Findings: Advanced level Mathematics does not have any significant effect on the academic performance of theoretical Computer Science course units. Even though all Mathematics course units offered were significantly correlated with academic performance of every theoretical Computer Science course unit, only the Discrete Mathematics course unit highly impacted on the academic performance of all three theoretical Computer Science course units. Further this study indicates that the academic performance of female undergraduates is better than males in all theoretical Computer Science and Mathematics course units. Future Research: Identifying other critical success factors contributing to the students’ academic performance of the theoretical Computer Science through empirical studies

An Analysis of Introductory Programming Courses at UK Universities

Context: In the context of exploring the art, science and engineering of programming, the question of which programming languages should be taught first has been fiercely debated since computer science teaching started in universities. Failure to grasp programming readily almost certainly implies failure to progress in computer science. Inquiry: What first programming languages are being taught? There have been regular national-scale surveys in Australia and New Zealand, with the only US survey reporting on a small subset of universities. This the first such national survey of universities in the UK. Approach: We report the results of the first survey of introductory programming courses (N=80) taught at UK universities as part of their first year computer science (or related) degree programmes, conducted in the first half of 2016. We report on student numbers, programming paradigm, programming languages and environment/tools used, as well as the underpinning rationale for these choices. Knowledge: The results in this first UK survey indicate a dominance of Java at a time when universities are still generally teaching students who are new to programming (and computer science), despite the fact that Python is perceived, by the same respondents, to be both easier to teach as well as to learn. Grounding: We compare the results of this survey with a related survey conducted since 2010 (as well as earlier surveys from 2001 and 2003) in Australia and New Zealand. Importance: This survey provides a starting point for valuable pedagogic baseline data for the analysis of the art, science and engineering of programming, in the context of substantial computer science curriculum reform in UK schools, as well as increasing scrutiny of teaching excellence and graduate employability for UK universities.

Software Project Management as Team Building Intervention

The courses of software project management (SPM) and Software engineering (SE) are regularly taught at undergraduate degree program in computer science. Students of these programs also have to undertake projects as part of various courses during their degree program. The purpose of this research is to assess whether the software engineering or the software project management course had enhanced the cohesion among team members while undertaking a six month or a year-long project. The teaching of these two courses is considered as a team building intervention in this research. A total of 167 students returned a modified version of Group Environment Questionnaire distributed to 200 students. Off these, 81 were those who had taken the SE course and subsequently did a project before they had taken SPM course. The rest of the students (85) consisted of those who had taken SPM and had undertaken final project. The results of this paper indicates that the SPM as compared to SE as a team building intervention had a better effect on team cohesion. The paper has successfully identified a single course that can enhance the performance of students as a team in contrast to proposing all the courses taught at the undergraduate computer science degree program as intervention for better team building and team work as proposed by Hogan & Thomas, 2005.