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Towards a Concept Inventory for Algorithm Analysis Topics

Published: 08 March 2017 Publication History

Abstract

We present initial results from our work towards developing a concept inventory for algorithm analysis (AACI) at the post-CS2 level. We used a Delphi process to identify a list of algorithm analysis topics that were considered both important and hard by surveying a panel of experienced instructors. Through a similar survey process, we identified a list of student misconceptions related to the identified topics. Based on this, a set of pilot AACI items were developed. We validated the misconceptions list by analyzing student responses to four administrations of the pilot AACI in two different universities during Fall 2015 and Spring 2016. Results revealed that a sufficient number of students held most of the misconceptions identified in the list.

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cover image ACM Conferences
SIGCSE '17: Proceedings of the 2017 ACM SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education
March 2017
838 pages
ISBN:9781450346986
DOI:10.1145/3017680
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: 08 March 2017

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Author Tags

  1. algorithm analysis
  2. concept inventory
  3. delphi process
  4. misconceptions

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SIGCSE '17 Paper Acceptance Rate 105 of 348 submissions, 30%;
Overall Acceptance Rate 1,595 of 4,542 submissions, 35%

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  • (2024)Students Struggle with Concepts in Dijkstra's AlgorithmProceedings of the 2024 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research - Volume 110.1145/3632620.3671096(154-165)Online publication date: 12-Aug-2024
  • (2024)To Be Or Not To Be . . . An Algorithm: The Notion According to Students and TeachersProceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3626252.3630950(102-108)Online publication date: 7-Mar-2024
  • (2023)Approaches and Tools for Experiential Learning of Abstract ConceptsFostering Pedagogy Through Micro and Adaptive Learning in Higher Education10.4018/978-1-6684-8656-6.ch006(111-140)Online publication date: 30-Jun-2023
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  • (2023)Taking Stock of Concept Inventories in Computing Education: A Systematic Literature ReviewProceedings of the 2023 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research - Volume 110.1145/3568813.3600120(397-415)Online publication date: 7-Aug-2023
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  • (2022)Multilingual CS Education PathwaysProceedings of the 53rd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education - Volume 110.1145/3478431.3499315(64-70)Online publication date: 22-Feb-2022
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