Describes a lesson designed to teach a computer programming construct, the "if-then" statement, and to help students gain insight into computing concepts, stimulate students' creativity, and develop their higher order thinking skills. (JKP)

Advocates discussion of self-motivation and its importance with computing majors, suggests wide reading in computing as a way to encourage majors to promote their own self-motivation and interest, and offers specific reading suggestions. (10 references) (MKR)

Information is presented on 63 doctoral programs and more than 150 master's degree and 6-year programs in the fields of educational and instructional technology and 82 graduate programs in educational computing. A brief description of each program includes the mailing address, a contact person, degrees offered, and information on faculty and…

This paper is based on a study into the social and ethical implications of computer education in secondary schools in Queensland (Australia). The relationship between computer technology and philosophy is discussed; three curriculum orientations are described--(1) vocational, (2) liberal, and (3) socially critical; and a socially critical…

Engineering students accessed assignments during cooperative education work placements via a website and interacted with faculty and students via e-mail or conferencing software. A virtual reflection seminar was conducted throughout the work term rather than afterward, resulting in greater integration of co-op and academic experiences. (SK)

A joint project involved students in the United States and Europe in cooperative design of computer software. The Internet-based project encountered some difficulties in scheduling, time difference, and lack of agreement on a programming language; however, the international cooperation was valued by participants. (SK)

An approach to the teaching and learning of high school computer science (CS) to and by educationally disadvantaged students (EDS) is described, as well as the implementation of six pedagogical principles in two learning environments developed for Israeli schools. Following a brief description of the main characteristics of EDS classes and a…

The paper presents a study of novice difficulties with range conceptions in loop design. CS2 students were asked to solve four related enumeration tasks, which required various loop boundary specifications. The student solutions varied considerably in conciseness and efficiency. The solution diversity reveals significant differences in range…

This paper describes an exercise in determining the cognitive difficulty of the assessment tasks in six computing courses within an Information Technology (IT) degree, importing Bloom's taxonomy from the field of educational psychology as an analytical framework. Three of the six courses comprise a Programming stream and three a Data…

The research reported here investigates variation in first year university students' early experiences of learning to program, with a particular focus on revealing differences in how they go about learning to program. A phenomenographic research approach was used to reveal variation in how the act of learning to program may be constituted amongst…

Abstraction is a major concept in computer science and serves as a powerful tool in software development. Pattern-oriented instruction (POI) is a pedagogical approach that incorporates patterns in an introductory computer science course in order to structure the learning of algorithmic problem solving. This paper examines abstraction processes in…

Active learning is considered by many academics as an important and effective learning strategy. Assessment is integrated in learning as a tool for learning, but traditional assessment methods often encourage surface learning (passive learning) rather than deep learning (active learning). Peer assessment is a method of motivating students,…

This paper was written to evaluate an undergraduate course, Internet Applications in Education, given at Computer Education and Instructional Technologies department at Middle East Technical University in Turkey. In this paper, the researcher analyzes underlying design rationalities of this course from the viewpoint of Constructivism. After…

Case method teaching is not limited to larger, complex cases. It is often useful to supplement classroom discussions with short cases, ones that have been targeted for one or two discussion points that challenge student thinking beyond the usual lecture or textbook. These shorter cases are called "minicases." The objective of a minicase is to…

In this research, we examine the design, construction, and implementation of a dynamic, easy to use, feedback mechanism for social software. The tool was integrated into an existing university's online learning community (OLC). In line with constructivist learning models and practical information systems (IS) design, the feedback system provides…