Note to self: make assignments meaningful

ABSTRACT

In addition to "learning by doing," programming assignments and projects are also the mechanism by which students learn about the utility of computer science -- or not. Recent research indicates that the current generation of students is in search of a career with meaning, and women and minorities have long been known to desire careers that help society. In this paper, we provide student testimonials on the importance and benefits of practical and socially-relevant assignments. We then examined approximately 200 first year (CS1) and software engineering assignments at top computer science institutions. Only 34% of the CS1 projects had a practical or socially-relevant context, 41% had no context at all, and 15% were games. For software engineering projects, 62% were practical or socially-relevant, but still 16% had no practical context. We recommend that educators, through their assignments, place increased emphasis on demonstrating that computer science can be used to aid society and/or produce products of practical value to society.

REFERENCES

• 1: Sarah B. Berenson , Kelli M. Slaten , Laurie Williams , Chih-Wei Ho, Voices of women in a software engineering course: reflections on collaboration, Journal on Educational Resources in Computing (JERIC), v.4 n.1, p.3-es, March 2004 [doi>10.1145/1060071.1060074]
• 2: Michael Buckley , Helene Kershner , Kris Schindler , Carl Alphonce , Jennifer Braswell, Benefits of using socially-relevant projects in computer science and engineering education, Proceedings of the 35th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education, March 03-07, 2004, Norfolk, Virginia, USA
• 3: Luiz Fernando Capretz, Personality types in software engineering, International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, v.58 n.2, p.207-214, February 2003 [doi>10.1016/S1071-5819(02)00137-4]
• 4: "University of Dayton International Programs / ETHOS," http://international.udayton.edu/edabroad/students/programs/ethos.htm, University of Dayton, accessed November 15, 2006.
• 5: "EPICS at Purdue University," http://epics.ecn.purdue.edu/, Purdue University, accessed November 15, 2006.
• 6: M. Feldgen and O. Clua, "Games as a motivation for freshman students learn programming," proceedings of ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education, Savannah, GA, 2004, pp. S1H11-S1H16.
• 7: K. Fisler, "WPI CS 1101 A05 Home Page," http://web.cs.wpi.edu/~cs1101/a05/, Department of Computer Science, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, accessed September 6, 2006.
• 8: P. Freeman and W. Aspray, "The Supply of Information Technology Workers in the United State," Computing Research Association, Washington, DC, 1999.
• 9: M. T. Gibbons, "The Year in Numbers," American Society for Engineering Education, Washington, DC, 2005.
• 10: C.-w. Ho, K. Slaten, L. Williams, and S. Berenson, "Examining the Impact of Pair Programming on Female Students," North Carolina State University Department of Computer Science, Raleigh, NC, TR-2004-20, June 17, 2004, 2004.
• 11: G. Lawrence, People Types and Tiger Stripes, 3rd ed., Center for Applications of Psychological Types, Gainesville, FL, 1994.
• 12: Lucas Layman , Travis Cornwell , Laurie Williams, Personality types, learning styles, and an agile approach to software engineering education, Proceedings of the 37th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education, March 03-05, 2006, Houston, Texas, USA
• 13: J. Margolis and A. Fisher, Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2002.
• 14: M. H. McCaulley, "The MBTI and Individual Pathways in Engineering Design," Journal of Engineering Education, vol. 80, 1990, pp. 537--542.
• 15: W. Oakes, J. Duffy, T. Jacobius, P. Linos, S. Lord, W. W. Schultz, and A. Smith, "Service-Learning in Engineering," proceedings of ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education, Boston, MA, 2002, pp. F3A-1 - F3A-6.
• 16: D. Oblinger and J. Oblinger, "Educating the Net Generation." Boulder, CO: Educause, 2005.
• 17: N. Parlante, "Name Surfer - Nifty Assignments," http://nifty.stanford.edu/2005/NameSurfer/, Stanford, accessed September 6, 2006.
• 18: N. Parlante, "Nifty Assignments," http://nifty.stanford.edu/, Stanford, accessed September 6, 2006.
• 19: Richard E. Pattis, Karel the Robot: A Gentle Introduction to the Art of Programming, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, NY, 1994
• 20: C. Peiper, "CS 125 Home Page," http://www.cs.uiuc.edu/class/fa06/cs125/, Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, accessed September 6, 2006.
• 21: S. Rosser, Female-friendly science: Applying women's studies methods and theories to attack students, Pergamon Press, New York, 1990.
• 22: Kelli M. Slaten , Sarah B. Berenson , Laurie Williams , Lucas Layman , Maria Droujkova, Undergraduate Student Perceptions of Pair Programming and Agile Software Methodologies: Verifying a Model of Social Interaction, Proceedings of the Agile Development Conference, p.323-330, July 24-29, 2005 [doi>10.1109/ADC.2005.48]
• 23: S. Wolfman, "Meta-Commentary on Natural Prestidigitation Assignment," http://nifty.stanford.edu/2006/wolfman-pretid/, Stanford, accessed September 6, 2006.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION
      K.3.2 Computer and Information Science Education
          Subjects: Computer science education

General Terms:
Human Factors

Keywords:
CS1, programming assignments, software engineering education