Programming skills are an increasingly desirable asset across disciplines; however, learning to program continues to be difficult for many students. To improve pedagogy, we need to better understand the concepts that students find difficult and which have the biggest impact on their learning. Threshold-concept theory provides a potential lens on…

Recent years have seen a growing interest in block-based programming environments for computer science education. While these environments hold significant potential for novice programmers, they lack the adaptive support necessary to accommodate students exhibiting a wide range of initial capabilities and dispositions toward computing. A promising…

In programming courses there are various ways in which students attempt to cheat. The most commonly used method is copying source code from other students and making minimal changes in it, like renaming variable names. Several tools like Sherlock, JPlag and Moss have been devised to detect source code plagiarism. However, for larger student…

The first intelligent tutoring systems for computer programming have been proposed more than 30 years ago, mostly focusing on well defined programming tasks e.g. in the context of logic programming. Recent systems also teach complex programs, where explicit modelling of every possible program and mistake is no longer possible. Such systems are…

Programming is one of the most important aspects of a Computing course. Teaching programming is a challenging task due to a number of factors, ranging from lack of student problem solving skills to different teaching methods. This paper focuses on Maltese Computing teachers' perspectives about the difficulties encountered when teaching programming…

This study aimed at examining the COTS (Commercial off the Shelf) games having strong potential for helping to enhance intrinsic motivation and computational thinking skills. To this end, STEAM game store was searched with the keywords of "programming, coding, computing, and algorithm". This search yielded 1,249 games. After eliminating…

This study implemented a data-driven approach to identify Chinese high school students' common errors in a Java-based introductory programming course using the data in an automated assessment tool called the Mulberry. Students' error-related behaviors were also analyzed, and their relationships to success in introductory programming were…

Many course designers trying to evaluate the experience of participants in a MOOC will find it difficult to track and analyse the online actions and interactions of students because there may be thousands of learners enrolled in courses that sometimes last only a few weeks. This study explores the use of automated sentiment analysis in assessing…

This paper examines the limited proficiency to engage in programming algorithms among university students in information technology and information system in several universities across Surabaya, Indonesia. The purpose of this research is to find the most influential factor in learning programming algorithm using a quantitative approach. The…

Using unplugged coding activities to promote computational thinking (CT) among secondary learners has become increasingly popular. Benefits of using unplugged coding activities involve the cost-effective implementation, the ability to promote computer science concepts and self-efficacy in learning computer programming, and the engaging nature of…

Modern internet technologies have revolutionized traditional education by providing flexible and resourceful e-learning opportunities in all fields of life. Programming is an integral part of the undergraduate curriculum in computer sciences where an adequate level of programming expertise is expected from the graduates. In this paper, we explore…

Background and Context: In today's increasingly digital world, it is critical that all students learn to think computationally from an early age. Assessments of Computational Thinking (CT) are essential for capturing information about student learning and challenges. When programming is used as a vehicle to foster CT skills, assessment of CT…

We recommend the conceptualization of computing as a critical literacy, and ground this conceptualization in considerations of historical and current realities in computing. The frameworks of connected learning and computational participation are recommended as guides for "doing" critical computing literacy. We present the findings from…

Background and Context: Computational thinking (CT) is considered as a valuable literacy for all students, and its inclusion in compulsory schooling could increase the numbers of underrepresented students who pursue computing-related careers. Computer Science Unplugged (CSU) had success in making computer science (CS) accessible to K-12 students…

Bad smells affect maintainability and performance of model-to-model transformations. There are studies that define a set of transformation bad smells, and some of them propose techniques to recognize and--according to their complexity--fix them in a (semi)automated way. In academia it is necessary to make students aware of this subject and provide…