Computer science instructors can find a variety of resources and information for exploring pedagogical issues and teaching innovations in CS, specifically diversity, class climate, introductory class strategies, and active learning approaches like flipping the classroom, group discussion, and experiential service learning.
In addition to the scholarly literature below, instructors can read the Yale College Guidelines for Teaching with Undergraduate Learning Assistants (ULAs) on the CTL website.
Journals and Websites
- ACM Transactions on Computing Education (TOCE)
- Anita Borg Institute (“social enterprise founded on the belief that women are vital to building technology that the world needs”)
- Computer Science Education
- Innovations in Teaching and Learning in Information and Computer Sciences
- Journal of Computing in Higher Education
- Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching (JCMST)
- Mathematics and Computer Education
- National Center for Women & Information Technology
Articles and Papers
Abstract: “Women are dramatically underrepresented in computer science at all levels in academia and account for just 15% of tenure-track faculty. Understanding the causes of this gender imbalance would inform both policies intended to rectify it and employment decisions by departments and individuals. Progress in this direction, however, is complicated by the complexity and decentralized nature of faculty hiring and the non-independence of hires. Using comprehensive data on both hiring outcomes and scholarly productivity for 2659 tenure-track faculty across 205 Ph.D.-granting departments in North America, we investigate the multi-dimensional nature of gender inequality in computer science faculty hiring through a network model of the hiring process. Overall, we find that hiring outcomes are most directly affected by (i) the relative prestige between hiring and placing institutions and (ii) the scholarly productivity of the candidates. After including these, and other features, the addition of gender did not significantly reduce modeling error. However, gender differences do exist, e.g., in scholarly productivity, postdoctoral training rates, and in career movements up the rankings of universities, suggesting that the effects of gender are indirectly incorporated into hiring decisions through gender’s covariates. Furthermore, we find evidence that more highly ranked departments recruit female faculty at higher than expected rates, which appears to inhibit similar efforts by lower ranked departments. These findings illustrate the subtle nature of gender inequality in faculty hiring networks and provide new insights to the underrepresentation of women in computer science.”
Excerpt (page 3): “[S]econd report based on Google and Gallup’s multiyear, comprehensive study of perceptions about computer science and the opportunities students have to become more involved in computer science. While the first report, Searching for Computer Science: Access and Barriers in U.S. K-12 Education, focused on support for and access to computer science learning, this report examines perceptions about the value of computer science among key stakeholders in K-12 education and evaluates the opportunities for students to become more involved in computer science before college.”
Abstract: “This study is a follow-up to one published in computer science education in 2010 that reported preliminary results showing a positive impact of service learning on student attitudes associated with success and retention in computer science. That paper described how service learning was incorporated into a computer science course in the context of the Students & Technology in Academia, Research, and Service (STARS) Alliance, an NSF-supported broadening participation in computing initiative that aims to diversify the computer science pipeline through innovative pedagogy and inter-institutional partnerships. The current paper describes how the STARS Alliance has expanded to diverse institutions, all using service learning as a vehicle for broadening participation in computing and enhancing attitudes and behaviors associated with student success. Results supported the STARS model of service learning for enhancing computing efficacy and computing commitment and for providing diverse students with many personal and professional development benefits.”
Abstract: “Despite the best laid plans, counterproductive student behavior can interfere with faculty establishment of supportive classroom climates. This paper describes methods for framing the climate of the computer science classroom to minimize outspoken students’ unwanted displays of intellectual prowess and engender co-learning behavior among students. Explicit framing of a supportive climate reduces student anxiety about their status among peers, leads them to expect to co-learn concepts, and reduces trepidations about speaking up in class. The framing is grounded by preemptively establishing expectations and addressing concerns through student discussion; asking students to go outside of their interaction style comfort zones for speaking in class; and explicitly describing teaching choices and classroom processes. The framing is reinforced by exposing wrong answers as useful rather than embarrassing, turn-taking techniques for equal student participation, and collaborative learning for assignments and in-class problem solving. Classroom-based retention techniques are important for retaining students who are less experienced with computer science and unsure how to interpret peers? public knowledge claims in relation to their own knowledge or faculty expectations.” Excerpt (page 1): “This paper presents a way of reframing student focus, a solution that has been effective at Harvey Mudd College. Below, we briefly review scholarship about classroom climate and management, then present a teaching approach that frames appropriate and expected classroom involvement. We conclude by discussing outcomes for student interaction and retention in computer science.”
Abstract: “Recent technical and infrastructural developments posit flipped (or inverted) classroom approaches ripe for exploration. Flipped classroom approaches have students use technology to access the lecture and other instructional resources outside the classroom in order to engage them in active learning during in-class time. Scholars and educators have reported a variety of outcomes of a flipped approach to instruction; however, the lack of a summary from these empirical studies prevents stakeholders from having a clear view of the benefits and challenges of this style of instruction. The purpose of this article is to provide a review of the flipped classroom approach in order to summarize the findings, to guide future studies, and to reflect the major achievements in the area of Computer Science (CS) education. 32 peer-reviewed articles were collected from a systematic literature search and analyzed based on a categorization of their main elements. The results of this survey show the direction of flipped classroom research during recent years and summarize the benefits and challenges of adopting a flipped approach in the classroom. Suggestions for future research include: describing in-detail the flipped approach; performing controlled experiments; and triangulating data from diverse sources. These future research efforts will reveal which aspects of a flipped classroom work better and under which circumstances and student groups. The findings will ultimately allow us to form best practices and a unified framework for guiding/assisting educators who want to adopt this teaching style.”
Abstract: “High failure rates in introductory courses on theoretical computer science are a common problem at universities in Germany, Europe, and North America, as students often have difficulties coping with the contents of such courses due to their abstract and theoretical nature. This paper describes modifications to the pedagogy of a theory course held at the University of Potsdam, Germany that are motivated by a cognitive apprenticeship approach and have led to a significant reduction of the course’s failure rates. Since our approach is based on the typical infrastructure for teaching introductory computer science courses and does not require additional expenses or special resources, it can be replicated by other institutions. We believe that it is a serious contribution to better support teaching as well as student learning success in this field.”
Abstract: “Attracting and engaging computer science students to enhance their mathematical and algorithmic thinking skills are challenging tasks. In winter 2013 we introduced a new teaching format for a course, which combines theory in computer science with hands-on algorithmic challenges, mathematical thinking activities, and collaborative problem-solving. Therefore, we introduced the pedagogical model Motivational Active Learning (MAL), which is grounded in MIT’s successful format for teaching physics, Technology-Enabled Active Learning (TEAL), and combines it with motivational strategies usually used by game designers. Results from the initial setup in class reveals that students indeed assessed the course structure as more interactive and motivating compared to other similar courses. In this paper we discuss the course design, issues, and the impact, and analyze the first results in detail.”
Abstract: “Decades of effort has been put into decreasing the high failure rates of introductory programming courses. Whilst numerous studies suggest approaches that provide effective means of teaching programming, to date, no study has attempted to quantitatively compare the impact that different approaches have had on the pass rates of programming courses. In this article, we report the results of a systematic review on articles describing introductory programming teaching approaches, and provide an analysis of the effect that various interventions can have on the pass rates of introductory programming courses. A total of 60 pre-intervention and post-intervention pass rates, describing thirteen different teaching approaches were extracted from relevant articles and analyzed. The results showed that on average, teaching interventions can improve programming pass rates by nearly one third when compared to a traditional lecture and lab based approach.”
Abstract: “How pair programming, peer instruction, and media computation have improved computer science education.”
