Practical programming competencies are critical to the success in computer science (CS) education and go-to-market of fresh graduates. Acquiring the required level of skills is a long journey of discovery, trial and error, and optimization seeking through a broad range of programming activities that learners must perform themselves. It is not reasonable to consider that teachers could evaluate all attempts that the average learner should develop multiplied by the number of students enrolled in a course, much less in a timely, deep, and fair fashion. Unsurprisingly, exploring the formal structure of programs to automate the assessment of certain features has long been a hot topic among CS education practitioners. Assessing a program is considerably more complex than asserting its functional correctness, as the proliferation of tools and techniques in the literature over the past decades indicates. Program efficiency, behavior, and readability, among many other features, assessed either statically or dynamically, are now also relevant for automatic evaluation. The outcome of an evaluation evolved from the primordial Boolean values to information about errors and tips on how to advance, possibly taking into account similar solutions. This work surveys the state of the art in the automated assessment of CS assignments, focusing on the supported types of exercises, security measures adopted, testing techniques used, type of feedback produced, and the information they offer the teacher to understand and optimize learning. A new era of automated assessment, capitalizing on static analysis techniques and containerization, has been identified. Furthermore, this review presents several other findings from the conducted review, discusses the current challenges of the field, and proposes some future research directions.

Automated Assessment in Computer Science Education: A State-of-the-Art Review

Evaluating quality in human-robot interaction: A systematic search and classification of performance and human-centered factors, measures and metrics towards an industry 5.0

Motivated by the recent explosion of interest around Educational Robotics (ER), this paper attempts to re-approach this area by suggesting new ways of thinking and exploring the related concepts. The contribution of the paper is fourfold. First, future readers can use this paper as a reference point for exploring the expected learning outcomes of educational robotics. From an exhaustive list of potential learning gains, we propose a set of six learning outcomes that can offer a starting point for a viable model for the design of robotic activities. Second, the paper aims to serve as a survey for the most recent ER platforms. Driven by the growing number of available robotics platforms, we have gathered the most recent ER kits. We also propose a new way to categorize the platforms, free from their manufacturers’ vague age boundaries. The proposed categories, including No Code , Basic Code , and Advanced Code , are derived from the prior knowledge and the programming skills that a student needs to use them efficiently. Third, as the number of ER competitions, and tournaments increases in parallel with ER platforms’ increase, the paper presents and analyses the most popular robotic events. Robotics competitions encourage participants to develop and showcase their skills while promoting specific learning outcomes. The paper aims to provide an overview of those structures and discuss their efficacy. Finally, the paper explores the educational aspects of the presented ER competitions and their correlation with the six proposed learning outcomes. This raises the question of which primary features compose a competition and achieve its’ pedagogical goals. This paper is the first study that correlates potential learning gains with ER competitions to the best of our knowledge.

/pdf/educational-robotics-platforms-competitions-and-expected-14gjbr32p8.pdf

Educational Robotics: Platforms, Competitions and Expected Learning Outcomes

Block-based programming languages are becoming increasingly common in introductory computer science classrooms across the K-12 spectrum. One justification for the use of block-based environments in formal educational settings is the idea that the concepts and practices developed using these introductory tools will prepare learners for future computer science learning opportunities. This view is built on the assumption that the attitudinal and conceptual learning gains made while working in the introductory block-based environments will transfer to conventional text-based programming languages. To test this hypothesis, this paper presents the results of a quasi-experimental classroom study in which programming novices spent five-week using either a block-based or text-based programming environment. After five weeks in the introductory tool, students transitioned to Java, a conventional text-based programming language. The study followed students for 10 weeks after the transition. Over the course of the 15-week study, attitudinal and conceptual assessments were administered and student-authored programs were collected. Conceptual learning, attitudinal shifts, and changes in programming practices were analyzed to evaluate how introductory modality impacted learners as they transitioned to a professional, text-based programming language. The findings from this study build on earlier work that found a difference in performance on content assessments after the introductory portion of the study (Weintrop & Wilensky, 2017a). This paper shows the difference in conceptual learning that emerged after five weeks between the block-based and text-based conditions fades after 10 weeks in Java. No differences in programming practices were found between the two conditions while working in Java. Likewise, differences in attitudinal measures that emerged after working in the introductory environments also faded after 10 weeks in Java, resulting in no difference between the conditions after 15 weeks. The contribution of this work is to advance our understanding of the benefits and limits of block-based programming tools in preparing students for future computer science learning. This paper presents the first quasi-experimental study of the transfer of knowledge between block-based and text-based environments in a high school setting. The lack of significant differences between the two introductory programming modalities after learners transition to professional programming languages is discussed along with the implications of these findings for computer science education researchers and educators, as well as for the broader community of researchers studying the role of technology in education.

Transitioning from introductory block-based and text-based environments to professional programming languages in high school computer science classrooms

alternative to computer-based methods of programming

/pdf/unplugged-coding-using-flowblocks-for-promoting-45jziuzqd3.pdf

Unplugged Coding Using Flowblocks for Promoting Computational Thinking and Programming among Secondary School Students

It is well documented, and has been the topic of much research, that Computer Science courses tend to have higher than average drop out rates at third level. This is a problem that needs to be addressed with urgency but also caution. The required number of Computer Science graduates is growing every year but the number of graduates is not meeting this demand and one way that this problem can be alleviated is to encourage students at an early age towards studying Computer Science courses. 
This paper presents a systematic literature review on the role of visual and textual programming languages when learning to program, particularly as a first programming language. The approach is systematic, in that a structured search of electronic resources has been conducted, and the results are presented and quantitatively analysed. This study will give insight into whether or not the current approaches to teaching young learners programming are viable, and examines what we can do to increase the interest and retention of these students as they progress through their education.

/pdf/visual-and-textual-programming-languages-a-systematic-review-ggw9fil0v0.pdf

Visual and Textual Programming Languages: A Systematic Review of the Literature

It is well documented and has been the topic of much research as well that Computer Science courses tend to have higher than average drop-out rates at third level, particularly so, for students advancing from first year to second year. This is a problem that needs to be addressed not only with urgency but also with caution. The required number of Computer Science graduates is growing every year, but the number of graduates is not meeting this demand, and one way that this problem can be alleviated is to encourage students, at an early age, towards studying Computer Science courses. This paper presents a systematic literature review that examines the role of visual and textual programming languages when learning to program, particularly as a First Programming Language. The approach is systematic in that a structured search of electronic resources has been conducted, and the results are presented and quantitatively analysed. This study will provide insight into whether or not the current approaches to teaching young learners programming are viable, and examines what we can do to increase the interest and retention of these students as they progress through their education.

/pdf/visual-and-textual-programming-languages-a-systematic-review-1u00guoixp.pdf

Visual and textual programming languages: a systematic review of the literature

This article details the creation of a hybrid computer programming environment combining the power of the text-based Java language with the visual features of the Snap! language. It has been well documented that there exists a gap in the education of computing students in their mid-to-late teenage years, where perhaps visual programming languages are no longer suitable and textual programming languages may involve too steep of a learning curve. There is an increasing need for programming environments that combine the benefits of both languages 
into one. 

Snap! is a visual programming language which employs "blocks" to allow users to build programs, similar to the functionality offered by Scratch. One added benefit of Snap! is that it offers the ability to create one’s own blocks and extend the functionality of those blocks to create more complex and powerful programs. This will be utilised to create the Hybrid Java environment. The development of this tool will be detailed in the article, along with the motivation and use cases for it.

Initial testing conducted will be discussed including one phase that gathered feedback from a pool of 174 first year Computer Science students. These participants were given instructions to work with the hybrid programming language and evaluate their experience of using it. The analysis of the findings along with future improvements to the language will also be presented.

/pdf/hybrid-java-the-creation-of-a-hybrid-programming-environment-1m1rm0q51p.pdf

Hybrid Java: The creation of a Hybrid Programming Environment

In modern day society, the ability to code is a highly desirable skill. So much so that the current supply from third level institutes across the world does not meet the high demands of industry. One of the major issues is the low progression rates from first to second year in third level Computer Science courses with introductory programming courses proving to be a high contributing factor. This is something that needs to be addressed. One such way to address the issue is to get children involved and engaged with computing at young ages.
This paper describes a study undertaken that is the first step in a body of work that aims to garner the interest of potential Computer Science students at an early age. The study involves a comparison of two short courses; one based in Java and one based in Snap. The goal is to determine whether either of these languages is a better first programming language for students than the other, or if both are viable. These languages were chosen to allow for a comparison between a Visual Programming Language and a Textual Programming Language.
Feedback in the form of a survey will be used to gather the opinions of the students. This will provide data on issues such as which language was easier to learn and which language was preferred amongst others. Based on the outcomes of this study, a full-scale curriculum will be developed in the coming year. The outcomes of this study will help to establish which is the best programming language to suit the learning needs of students.

pdf/first-programming-language-visual-or-textual-rcvs0vgjjc.pdf

First Programming Language: Visual or Textual?

Programming support services for introductory programmers have seen a rise
in popularity in recent years with third level institutions around the world
providing “safe spaces” for students to practice their programming skills and
get supports without the risk of being judged by anyone. These services appear
in many different structures including Support Centres, Software Studios and
help desks. The common trend however is that all the users of these services,
in general, report that the service has helped them in their studies and
garnered them with more confidence in their ability.
This paper examines the role which our Computer Science Centre played for
students who attended the support service during an intensive higher diploma
course. The intensive course is a 3-week course tailored to students who have
previously completed a degree in a field not related to CS and covers CS1 and
CS2 material. The structure and design of the support service is outlined in
this paper along with the supports offered. A high-level survey was conducted
to investigate the effect of the service on students programming self-efficacy.
Study design and methodology are described in detail. Early findings suggest
that the support services offered to these students improved their belief in their
own programming ability which in turn improved their exam grade outcome.
The findings provide valuable evidence to justify future research into the
functions of support services with the computer science domain.

/pdf/an-investigation-of-the-role-programming-support-services-yrj7d5f2tu.pdf

An Investigation of the Role Programming Support Services Have for Mature Students.

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