research-article

Effective closed labs in early CS courses: lessons from eight terms of action research

Authors:

Elizabeth Ann Patitsas,

Steven Andrew WolfmanAuthors Info & Claims

SIGCSE '12: Proceedings of the 43rd ACM technical symposium on Computer Science Education

Pages 637 - 642

https://doi.org/10.1145/2157136.2157318

Published: 29 February 2012 Publication History

Abstract

We report on best practices we have established to teach first-year computer science students in closed laboratories, founded on over three years of action research in a large introductory discrete mathematics and digital logic course. Our practices have resulted in statistically significant improvements in student and teaching assistant perception of the labs. Specifically, we discuss our practices of streamlining labs to reduce load on students that is extraneous to the lab's learning goals; establishing a positive first impression for students and TAs in the early weeks of the term; and effectively managing the teaching staff, including weekly preparation meetings for TAs using and a gradual, iterative curriculum development cycle that engages all stakeholders in the course.

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Cited By

Lake CMochetti K(2024)Logic Circuits Unveiled: Bridging the Gap between Discrete Mathematics and Computer Science EducationProceedings of the 26th Western Canadian Conference on Computing Education10.1145/3660650.3660653(1-7)Online publication date: 2-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3660650.3660653
Mirza DConrad PLloyd CMatni ZGatin AMcCartney RPetersen ARobins AMoskal AMcCartney RRobins A(2019)Undergraduate Teaching Assistants in Computer ScienceProceedings of the 2019 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research10.1145/3291279.3339422(31-40)Online publication date: 30-Jul-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3291279.3339422
Leyzberg DLumbroso JMoretti CDavoli RGoldweber MRößling GPolycarpou I(2017)Nailing the TA InterviewProceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education10.1145/3059009.3059057(128-133)Online publication date: 28-Jun-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3059009.3059057
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Effective closed labs in early CS courses: lessons from eight terms of action research
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education
      1. Computing education programs
        Computer science education

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

SIGCSE '12: Proceedings of the 43rd ACM technical symposium on Computer Science Education

February 2012

734 pages

ISBN:9781450310987

DOI:10.1145/2157136

Conference Chairs:
Laurie Smith King
College of the Holy Cross
,
David R. Musicant,
Program Chairs:
Tracy Camp
Colorado School of Mines
,
Paul Tymann
Rochester Institute of Technology

Copyright © 2012 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 29 February 2012

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SIGCSE '12: The 43rd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

February 29 - March 3, 2012

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Overall Acceptance Rate 1,595 of 4,542 submissions, 35%

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Cited By

Lake CMochetti K(2024)Logic Circuits Unveiled: Bridging the Gap between Discrete Mathematics and Computer Science EducationProceedings of the 26th Western Canadian Conference on Computing Education10.1145/3660650.3660653(1-7)Online publication date: 2-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3660650.3660653
Mirza DConrad PLloyd CMatni ZGatin AMcCartney RPetersen ARobins AMoskal AMcCartney RRobins A(2019)Undergraduate Teaching Assistants in Computer ScienceProceedings of the 2019 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research10.1145/3291279.3339422(31-40)Online publication date: 30-Jul-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3291279.3339422
Leyzberg DLumbroso JMoretti CDavoli RGoldweber MRößling GPolycarpou I(2017)Nailing the TA InterviewProceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education10.1145/3059009.3059057(128-133)Online publication date: 28-Jun-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3059009.3059057
Patitsas EClear ASanders KSimon B(2012)A case study of environmental factors influencing teaching assistant job satisfactionProceedings of the ninth annual international conference on International computing education research10.1145/2361276.2361280(11-16)Online publication date: 9-Sep-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2361276.2361280

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