Knowledge in Computer Science (CS) is essential, and companies have increased their demands for CS professionals. Despite this, many jobs remain vacant. Furthermore, computational thinking (CT) skills are required in all contexts of problem solving. A further serious problem arises from the gender disparity in technology related fields. Even if…

Computer science education has seen a large national push to be included in the K-12 curriculum (Fluck, Webb, Cox, Angeli, Malyn-Smith, Voogt, & Zagami, 2016; Theresa Avancena & Nishihara, 2014; Veletsianos, Beth, Lin, & Russell, 2016; Yadav, Gretter, Hambrusch, & Sands, 2016). Students are leaving schools and entering an economy…

This study compares computational thinking skills evidenced by two groups of students in two different secondary schools: one group per school was studying a qualification in Computer Science. The aim was to establish which elements of computational thinking were more prevalent in students studying Computer Science to a higher level. This in turn…

This case describes a classroom activity that explores a fictional software product company to help students learn about ways that businesses make money from software, including Free & Open Source Software (FOSS). The activity shows how a company might evolve through different business models, but does not imply that some models are always…

The present research work proposes the development of an integrated framework for the personalization and parameterization of learning pathways, aiming at optimizing the quality of the offered services by the Higher Educational Institutions (HEI). In order to achieve this goal, in addition to the educational part, the EDUC8 framework encloses the…

This paper is to investigate into the effect of design-based learning (DBL) activities and programing training on computational thinking (CT) skills. In total, 119 from the ninth grade students were recruited for this study conducted within the scope of Computer Science course. A semi-experimental research design was adopted, and DBL activities…

Learning to program requires perseverance, practice, and the mindset that programming skills are improved through these activities (i.e., that everyone has the potential to become good at programming). In contrast to an entity mindset, individuals with an incremental mindset believe that ability is malleable and can be improved with effort. Prior…

In this research study, we performed a "content analysis" of selected introductory programming textbooks for three languages to examine which software development concepts are emphasized in these books. Our goal was to determine which concepts are considered to be most representative of software development based on the topics emphasized…

In this study, we gauge the perceptions of novice computer programmers about Second Life (SL) as a digital learning environment for concept understanding in computer programming. SL is chosen as the learning environment because it offers, within a constructivist frame, the use of learner-centered pedagogies for designing curriculum. We adopt a…

An increasing number of countries have recently included programming education in their curricula. Similarly, utilizing programming concepts in gameplay has become popular in the videogame industry. Although many games have been developed for learning to program, their variety and their correspondence to national curricula remain an uncharted…

SQL query writing is a challenging task for novices, even after considerable training. Query writing is a programming task and a translation task where the writer must translate a user's request for information into code that conforms to the structure, constraints, and syntax of an SQL SELECT statement and that references specific tables and…

In this article commemorating 30 years of the "Journal of Information Systems Education," we reflect on our extraordinarily lucky careers together in the academic discipline of information systems. Both our careers and our field have seen continual growth, unrelenting change, and required adaptability. We credit our enduring and strong…

Contribution: This paper adds to the results of previous systematic literature reviews by addressing a more contemporary context of introductory programming. It proposes a categorization of introductory programming challenges, and highlights key issues for a research roadmap on introductory programming learning and teaching in higher education.…

Difficulties in the learning of computer programming have been a universal problem. One of the main contributors of this problem is due to the teaching material used in guiding the students. Traditional teaching method using books and PowerPoint slides are not effective enough to support the dynamic nature of computer programming. Hence, a more…

The types of programming errors that novice programmers make and struggle to resolve have long been of interest to researchers. Various past studies have analyzed the frequency of compiler diagnostic messages. This information, however, does not have a direct correlation to the types of errors students make, due to the inaccuracy and imprecision…