Can experts' explanations help students develop program design skills?

This paper reports and experimental investigation of the effectiveness of case studies for teaching programming. A case study provides an “expert commentary” on the complex problem-solving skills used in constructing a solution to a computer programming problem as well as one or more worked-out solutions to the problem. To conduct the investigation, we created case studies of programming problems and evaluated what high school students in ten Pascal programming courses learned from them. We found that the expert's commentary on the decisions and activities required to solve a programming problem helped students gain integrated understanding of programming. Furthermore, the expert's commentary imparted more integrated understanding of programming than did the worked-out solution to the problem without the expert's explanation. These results support the contention that explicit explanations can help students learn complex problem-solving skills.We developed case studies for teaching students to solve programming problems for the same reasons that they have been developed in other disciplines. The case method for teaching complex problem solving was first used at Harvard College in 1870 and has permeated curricula for business, law and medicine across the country. These disciplines turned to the case method to communicate the complexity of real problems, to illustrate the process of dealing with this complexity and to teach analysis and decision making skills appropriate for these problems.     

A cloud-based platform to develop context-aware mobile applications by domain experts

Context-awareness enables the personalization of computer systems according to the users' needs and their particular situation at a given time. The personalization capabilities are usually implemented by programmers due to the complex processes that are involved. However, an important trend in software development is that more and more software systems are being implemented not only by programmers but also by people with expertise in other domains. Since most of the existing context-aware development toolkits are designed for programmers, non-technical users cannot develop these kinds of systems. The design of tools to create context-aware systems by users that do not have programming skills but are experts in the domain where the system is going to be deployed, will contribute to speed up the adoption of these kinds of services by the society. This paper presents a cloud-based platform to ease the development of context-aware mobile applications by people without programming skills. The platform has been designed to be used in a tourism domain. This way, tourism experts can send tourist information to mobile users according to their context data (indoor/outdoor location, language, and date and time range). An energy-efficient mobile app has been developed in order to obtain context data from the user's device and to receive personalized information in real time based on these data. The architecture and implementation details of the system are presented and the evaluation of the platform by tourism domain experts is discussed.     

Empowering students through digital game authorship: Enhancing concentration,critical thinking,and academic achievement

Digital game-based learning is a popular strategy for engaging students by making learning fun. Actively involving students as designers and producers of digital games may have even greater potential for student empowerment through enhancing concentration and engagement, fostering higher order thinking, and improving learning outcomes. Thus, this study empirically investigated the impact of digital game authoring on students' concentration, critical thinking skills, and academic achievement. A total of 67 students in two seventh-grade classes participated in this 19-week-long experiment, and were divided into an experimental group (32 students designing digital games) and a comparison group (35 students designing Flash animations). The interdisciplinary approach involved integrating biology and computer programming classes. Students in the experimental group designed digital games based upon biology course content, while the comparison group collaboratively produced Flash animations based upon the same course content. The experimental results, using MANCOVA for pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest scores, demonstrate significant improvements in critical thinking skills, and academic achievement, with increased retention of both course content and critical thinking skills observed for the delayed posttest. For concentration, a relative advantage for the experimental group as compared with the comparison group was noted, but did not reach statistical significance. Based on the results of this study, implications for practitioners and researchers are provided, including the integration of programming or computer science with other courses for digital game authoring and the evaluation of other learning outcomes such as creative thinking, problem-solving, and flow.     

Which way of design programming activities is more effective to promote K-12 students' computational thinking skills? A meta-analysis

Promoting the cultivation of computational thinking (CT) skills in programming activities has become a key issue in the K-12 curriculum, however, there is no unified conclusion on how to design programming activities to promote the acquisition of CT skills more effectively. The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of using programming to enhance K-12 students' CT skills and explore the influence of various programming instructional design factors on the acquisition of CT skills. This study presents a quantitative meta-analysis. A systematic search of randomized controlled studies on the influence of programming on CT skills. A total of 86 empirical studies with 114 effect sizes met the study selection criterion. The results showed that programming improved K-12 students' CT skills in general (Hedges' g = 0.601, 95% CI [0.505, 0.697], p < 0.001). No publication bias was detected. Besides, we found that the interdisciplinary integration of programming, the duration of programming intervention within 1 week to 1 month, the class size of less than 50 students, and a reasonable selection of programming instruments and CT assessment types may be more conducive to promoting students' CT skills. Based on these findings, we suggest that programming instructional design should be planned reasonably to make the best use of technology towards developing students' CT skills. This will be of great significance to programming teaching and CT education in K-12.     

Special Issue in Honor of Ben Shneiderman's 60th Birthday: Reflections on Human-Computer Interaction

Abstract

Unlike most Web portals in the world, Chinese Web portals are characterized by a huge amount of information, excessive visual stimuli, and very long Web pages. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of such rich Web portal designs and floating animations on visual search, emphasizing a comparison between Chinese users and German users. Two experiments were conducted to test 2 proposed hypotheses. Experiment 1 studied the effect of Web portal design (rich and simple) on visual search performance (performance time, errors, and satisfaction) with both Chinese and German participants. Experiment 2 studied the effects of static animations (leaderboards, couplets, and large squares) and floating animations (moving down, moving up/down, and random movement) on visual search performance on Web portals. The dependent variables were the performance time, error, satisfaction, and animation recognition. The results indicated that participants using simple Web portals searched faster, made fewer errors, and were more satisfied than participants using rich Web portals. No significant differences were found between the performance time of Chinese participants and German participants. However, satisfaction of Chinese participants was found to be less influenced by the differences between simple and rich Web portal designs, compared with German participants. No significant differences were found in performance time and animation recognition between static animations and floating animations, which indicated that users are able to detect the pattern of animation movements and were able to avoid floating animations as well as static animations. People searching pages with randomly floating animations were found to use significantly more time compared with those searching pages with no animations. Furthermore, users' satisfaction for pages with randomly floating animations, moving down animations, and moving up/down animations was significantly lower than for pages with no animations. Implications for designers and for future research are discussed.     

Restoration of traditional Chinese shadow play‐Piying art from tangible interaction

Piying, the world's intangible culture heritage, is a characteristic Chinese folk shadow play and one of the origins of modern movie. The spirit of traditional Piying is to express rich emotion and stories through impromptu action change by professional artists. Now Piying gradually fades away in people's lives, encountering the risk of extinction. We focus on transforming the traditional Piying play into an interactive system, which can be seamlessly performed by ordinary people and bring a strong sense of immersion to the users. Two interactive systems were developed, with Kinect‐based interaction or sensors, users can create own digital Piying animations by employing their body movement as input. A field study was presented with 20 students in a primary school. The result showed that our system was far more effective in emotion induction and Piying understanding than traditional one. We demonstrated this system in a charitable foundation and a workshop of a tangible conference. It is also honored to be collected by China's intangible cultural heritage network. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The influences of a two-tier test strategy on student learning: A lag sequential analysis approach

Recently, programming skills have become a core competence. Many teaching strategies were developed to improve programming skills. Among them, online tests were widely applied to enhance students learning. Nonetheless, they may not be able to engage students in deep thinking and reflections. Thus, a two-tier test strategy was proposed to address this issue. However, previous research mainly focused on investigating the effectiveness of the two-tier test strategy but there is a lack of studies that investigate why the two-tier test approach is effective. To this end, we developed an online test, where the two-tier test strategy was implemented. Additionally, an empirical study was conducted to explore the influences of the two-tier test approach on students' learning performance and behavior patterns. Pre-test and post-test scores were applied to assess students' learning performance while a lag sequential analysis was used to analyze behavior patterns. Regarding learning performance, the proposed two-tier test can improve students' programming skills. Regarding behavior patterns, the two-tier test approach facilitates students to develop a learning by reviewing strategy, which is useful to improve their programming skills.     

Evaluating animations as student aids in learning computer algorithms

We conducted two experiments designed to examine whether animations of algorithms would help students learn the algorithms more effectively. Across the two studies we used two different algorithms — depth-first search and binomial heaps — and used two different subject populations — students with little or no computer science background and students who were computer science majors — and examined whether animations helped students acquire procedural and conceptual knowledge about the algorithms. The results suggest that one way animations may aid learning of procedural knowledge is by encouraging learners to predict the algorithm's behavior. However, such a learning improvement was also found when learners made predictions of an algorithm's behavior from static diagrams. This suggests that prediction, rather than animation per se, may have been the key factor in aiding learning in the present studies. These initial experiments served to highlight a number of methodological issues that need to be systematically addressed in future experiments in order to fully test the relationship between animation and prediction as well as to examine other possible benefits of animations on learning.     

Twinkling lights and nested loops: distributed problem solving and spreadsheet development

In contrast to the common view of spreadsheets as “single-user” programs, we have found that spreadsheets offer surprisingly strong support for cooperative development of a wide variety of applications. Ethnographic interviews with spreadsheet users showed that nearly all of the spreadsheets used in the work environments studied were the result of collaborative work by people with different levels of programming and domain expertise. We describe how spreadsheet users cooperate in developing, debugging and using spreadsheets. We examine the properties of spreadsheet software that enable cooperation, arguing that: (1) the division of the spreadsheet into two distinct programming layers permits effective distribution of computational tasks across users with different levels of programming skill; and (2) the spreadsheet's strong visual format for structuring and presenting data supports sharing of domain knowledge among co-workers.     

基于活动的社交网络中的群组推荐算法设计

在基于活动的社交网络（EBSN）中,群组中聚集了具有相似兴趣的用户,并为用户组织并举办线下活动,在社区的发展中起到了至关重要的作用,因而理解用户加入群组的原因和群组形成的过程在社交网络的研究中是一个重要的议题.本文通过基于活动的社交网络中的一些相关内容信息,比如社交网络中的标签信息和地理位置信息,来辅助推荐系统更好地为用户预测对于群组的偏好.本文提出了SEGELER （pair-wiSE Geo-social Event-based LatEnt factoR）模型,并使用这些社交网络中的信息,来为用户的兴趣进行预测.通过在真实的EBSN数据集上进行实验与验证,本文的模型不仅可以有效提升对于用户偏好的预测,也可以缓解冷启动问题.     

Community building among deaf and hard of hearing people by using written language on social networking sites

Since D/deaf and hard-of-hearing users of social networking sites (SNSs) may have communication specificities in comparison to hearing people, we proposed a model for understanding what factors affect building online communities. The model includes written language skills, the frequency of written communication, online Deaf and hearing identity, and the tendency for community building. One-hundred-and-sixty-two German D/deaf and hard-of-hearing users completed an online questionnaire in German sign and written language. Evaluation of the model with structural equation modelling revealed three main findings. Firstly, identification with the hearing online world has a positive effect on written language skills, the frequency of written communication on SNSs and indirectly on the tendency to build online communities. Secondly, the frequency of written communication has a positive effect on the tendency to build community. Thirdly, a positive effect of online Deaf identity on the frequency of written communication was found. Our findings may aid in understanding that, despite possible technological constraints, both D/deaf and hard-of-hearing people communicate on SNSs in written language more frequently due to their identification either with the Deaf or hearing online world which results in an increased tendency to build online communities.     

A distributed system for learning programming on-line

Several Web-based on-line judges or on-line programming trainers have been developed in order to allow students to train their programming skills. However, their pedagogical functionalities in the learning of programming have not been clearly defined. EduJudge is a project which aims to integrate the “UVA On-line Judge”, an existing on-line programming trainer with an important number of problems and users, into an effective educational environment consisting of the e-learning platform Moodle and the competitive learning tool QUESTOURnament. The result is the EduJudge system which allows teachers to apply different pedagogical approaches using a proven e-learning platform, makes problems easy to search through an effective search engine, and provides an automated evaluation of the solutions submitted to these problems. The final objective is to provide new learning strategies to motivate students and present programming as an easy and attractive challenge. EduJudge has been tried and tested in three algorithms and programming courses in three different Engineering degrees. The students’ motivation and satisfaction levels were analysed alongside the effects of the EduJudge system on students’ academic outcomes. Results indicate that both students and teachers found that among other multiple benefits the EduJudge system facilitates the learning process. Furthermore, the experiment also showed an improvement in students’ academic outcomes. It must be noted that the students’ level of satisfaction did not depend on their computer skills or their gender.     

A study for determining the optimum diameter of chopsticks

Chopsticks and knives and forks are fundamental utensils used by Asian and Western-oriented people, respectively, in serving food. Although ergonomics studies on the knife handle have been performed, chopsticks, used by at least 1.5 billion people daily, have seldom been examined by ergonomists. This lack of interest may be attributed to the fact that Occidentals, who tend to give more emphasis on empirical research, do not use chopsticks. Nevertheless, from an ergonomics perspective, chopsticks deserve a systematic study in lieu of the large number of users. This study involves 32 male and female university students who served as the control group. According to these results, the diameter of chopsticks significantly influences `food-pinching' efficiency. Also, the smaller and larger diameters of chopsticks are inferior to those of a medium diameter. In addition, chopsticks with 6 mm diameter are optimum for `food-pinching' efficiency. Subjective preference ranking is also used to cross-validate the above performance measures, with these results confirming the effectiveness of `food-pinching' efficiency measure.Relevance to industryHand tools considered as extensions of human hands, are very important in industry. Chopsticks are one of the simplest and most convenient and efficient hand tools. The result of this study reveals that both the diameter of chopsticks and different sizes of food heavily influenced the `food-pinching' efficiency. Thus, the designers must consider human factors, and ergonomic aspects of the user–tool interface when designing a new hand tool.     

Striking a Balance: Effective Use of Facebook in an Academic Library

As one of the fastest growing social networking sites, Facebook presents librarians with a prime opportunity to engage academic library patrons. A survey of 136 users at Western Michigan University (WMU) measured the effectiveness of Facebook as a marketing, reference, and instruction tool. It also measured user comfort and satisfaction with a library's presence on Facebook. The majority of respondents found Facebook to be a useful and engaging medium to learn about library resources and services. The results of this study indicate that an effective library Facebook page must maintain a balance between providing pertinent and useful information and preserving patron privacy. In a second study also included in this article, data from a survey of 14 peer institutions of Western Michigan University positions WMU's local survey within the context of their peer's use of Facebook. The survey of peer institutions concludes that most libraries use Facebook for marketing and outreach purposes.     

The impact of adaptive computer assisted instruction on reading comprehension: Identifying the main idea

Research has demonstrated that computer assisted instruction (CAI) can have positive impacts on various literacy skills, however its impact on specific comprehension skills is currently unclear. This study employed a small-scale randomized control trial to examine the impact of a researcher-developed adaptive computer assisted instructional program, Digital Comprehension, on 47 upper elementary struggling readers' comprehension skills, specifically main idea identification. Students were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups, with students in the treatment group engaging in the Digital Comprehension program and students in the control group receiving only business-as-usual classroom instruction. Students completed measures assessing main idea and general reading comprehension skills at pre- and post-intervention. Students in the treatment group demonstrated statistically significant greater growth in main idea skills than students in the control group. No main effect for the intervention was found for general reading comprehension skills, although there was a significant interaction between condition and student's pretest scores. Results indicate that adaptive CAI may be an effective means for remediating struggling readers' main idea skills.     

Accessibility and acceptance of responsive virtual human technology as a survey interviewer training tool

Research on survey non-response suggests that advanced communication and listening skills are among the best strategies telephone interviewers can employ for obtaining survey participation, allowing them to identify and address respondents’ concerns immediately with appropriate, tailored language. Yet training on interaction skills is typically insufficient, relying on role-playing or passive learning through lecture and videos. What is required is repetitive, structured practice in a realistic work environment. This research examines acceptance by trainees of an application based on responsive virtual human technology (RVHT) as a tool for teaching refusal avoidance skills to telephone interviewers. The application tested here allows interviewers to practice confronting common objections offered by reluctant sample members. Trainee acceptance of the training tool as a realistic simulation of “real life” interviewing situations is the first phase in evaluating the overall effectiveness of the RVHT approach. Data were gathered from two sources – structured debrief questionnaires administered to users of the application, and observations of users by researchers and instructors. The application was tested with a group of approximately 50 telephone interviewers of varying skill and experience levels. The research presents findings from these acceptance evaluations and discusses users’ experiences with and perceived effectiveness of the virtual training tool.     

The influence of computer anxiety on experienced computer users while performing complex computer tasks

This study was conducted to test the hypothesis whether computer anxiety has a hindering effect on experienced computer users while performing complex computer tasks. Participants were 75 third-year psychology students taking a Delphi programming course. Prior to the course, a computer anxiety scale was filled in. Computer performance was measured in four different ways: through final course grade, predicted final grade, self-perceived programming skills, and through observed behavior while programming a computer application. The results showed that computer anxiety was found to correlate with the students’ prediction of their final grade and with the perception of their own computer skills, but had no effect on actual performance as measured by the final course grade. Furthermore, there was no significant effect of computer anxiety on behavioral measures while students were programming a computer application. The findings point into the direction of a “threshold effect”, where anxiety only hinders performance when this anxiety is sufficiently severe or when the context in which the task to be executed on a computer is ambiguous.     

OGITO,an Open Geospatial Interactive Tool to support collaborative spatial planning with a maptable

Maptables are increasingly used to support collaborative spatial planning processes. Despite the proven benefits and claimed potential of using a maptable in such processes, software applications specifically designed for this device are still scarce. Moreover, often-used applications do not fully exploit the touch functionality of a maptable, or have low usability. To address this gap, we developed and evaluated the Open Geospatial Interactive TOol (OGITO), an open-source software application designed to support collaborative spatial planning processes with a maptable. To develop such tool, we combined human-centred design and Agile software development principles in a co-design effort with intended users and stakeholders. Through iterative development cycles and feedback from users, OGITO was evolved until it satisfied user expectations. In a case study on community mapping in Sumatra, Indonesia, a sample of users evaluated OGITO's usability. Case study participants reported high satisfaction with this tool for the tasks and context given. Our research shows the added value of iterative development and user feedback for improving and further development of the tool's usability and functionality.