By Samuel Williams
Moderator’s Note: This blog post was written by a university student in New Zealand who is very interested in teacher feedback on a new programming teaching tool he has created. If you are interested in trying something new, give it a try and post a comment to let him know what you think.
At its core, Computer Science is the study of programming languages, algorithms and data structures. Learning a programming language allows one to grapple with these ideas and bring them to life. However, it can be a barrier too: a difficult language can be discouraging and hinder progress. Choosing a suitable language for students is important, and there are many factors to consider.
In addition to learning a single programming language, exposure to a variety of different programming languages increases awareness of not only what is available, but also the different approaches one can take to solve various kinds of problems.
To this end, I have produced an online resource called the Programming Dojo.
This website has been designed with both teachers and students in mind and includes informative summaries on a wide variety of popular programming languages. Each summary includes a brief description, example source code, and links to highly relevant external resources for learning about the language.
I have also included several resources primarily for teachers: a set of posters and a programming language comparison. The programming language posters are designed to be used in the classroom and each feature a particular programming language. There are several suggested methods for using posters discussed on the site. The programming language comparison, while inevitably a little subjective, tries to provide a balanced assessment of programming languages in an educational context. The comparison has been reviewed and incorporates fairly extensive critical feedback.
The Programming Dojo is still under development and feedback from Teachers would be highly appreciated: Is this a useful resource? Are there areas which could be improved? Are there other other resources you would like to see included?
The word Dojo is actually pronounced Dou-Jyou, and is a Japanese word that can most easily be translated as: “Dou” meaning pathway, and “Jyou” meaning place, so Programming Dojo is the place where one can start on the pathway of programming.
Samuel Williams
Samuel Williams is a master’s candidate in Computer Science at Canterbury University, New Zealand. The “Programming Dojo” was developed as project work for a course on Computer Science Education run by Tim Bell and Lynn Lambert. Samuel Williams is an enthusiastic free software advocate and computer programmer, and enjoys hiking in the mountains.

By Dave Reed
We all hear the stories about how the CS job market has turned around (if it ever really was on a downward slope). But, when talking to students or their parents about what a great career option computer science is, it’s best to have some hard data.
Joel Adams at Calvin College has pulled together some stats and projections from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the CRA, and U.S. News & World Report that are quite compelling. In particular, there is a nice bar graph that shows the shortage of CS grads relative to new jobs created, and compares that shortage with other science disciplines. Check it out at
http://cs.calvin.edu/p/ComputingCareersMarket
Dave Reed
CSTA Board of Director

By Dan Lewis
Today’s college-bound students have grown up immersed in the technology of computing, and what interests them is no longer the same as what attracted previous generations to computing. For them, computers have become an appliance and the Web is their new communication medium. So why should we expect that learning how to put hello world on the screen would motivate students who are used to computer games and Web pages filled with images, animations and other forms of multimedia?
University computer curricula are changing in response, but most still fail to attract girls to the discipline. A recent WGBH/ACM report found that instead of being intrigued by how computers work, today’s students (especially the girls) are much more interested in “social interaction” and “making a difference in peoples’ lives”.

At a recent Preview Day, the Computer Engineering Department at Santa Clara University surveyed students who had been admitted for the fall of 2010 regarding their interests in computing. The results in Figure 1 highlight several key differences between the male and female students who attended the event. As anticipated, robotics, game design and computer hardware design were of greater interest to males, while females were more concerned with how computing can be used to benefit society. But what was not expected was how significant a factor gender is relative to interest in how the Web works and in the use of computers in graphic arts.

These differences are also reflected in our admission statistics. Last fall the department introduced a new degree program in Web Design and Engineering that combines the Web technologies of content creation and content delivery with Web-related courses from the fields of graphic arts, communication, sociology and applied ethics. As shown in Figure 2, this interdisciplinary approach has attracted a significantly greater percentage of women who (to our delight) also happen to have the highest SAT scores and high school grade point averages of all students who will join the department this coming fall.
Reference:
New Image for Computing, WGBH Educational Foundation and the Association for Computing Machinery, April 2009. See http://www.acm.org/membership/NIC.pdf.
Dan Lewis
Santa Clara University

By Joanna Goode
I recently had the opportunity to travel to South Africa to talk with teachers and computer science education faculty about the computing curriculum in South African and the United States. They are concerned with low numbers of high school students pursuing computer science, the lack of gender and racial diversity amongst computer science students, the lack of regular support for professional development, and the programming-centric nature of the national curriculum.
At a colloquium for IT teachers and national policymakers, a discussion arose about how to make computer science more relevant for 21st century students. Many of the teachers felt that a three-year sequence of programming languages did not tap into students’ interests, but the national policymakers argued that folks could adapt the standards in ways that made the curriculum more interesting and simultaneously maintain the required curricular standards.
It became clear that teachers needed more regular professional development and support to be able to engage in this innovative teaching, but apparently, the national curriculum designers and the national professional development designers work in different offices and do not collaborate. This was a frustrating realization for the teachers.
As we work on computer science policy at the local, state, and national level in the United States, it is more clear to me than ever that we must continue to couple curriculum reform and professional development opportunities to improve computer science education.
Joanna Goode
CSTA Equity Chair

Karen Lang
Plagiarism has turned out to be a major problem this year in my Computer Science class. I have had five separate situations where I caught students handing in copied code. I seem to be the only teacher in our building (there are only seven of us) that had any issues with plagiarism this year. I wondered, “Why me?” Is it that my course is so difficult that students must turn to copying? Is it that I read my students’ code so closely that I am able to catch these duplicates?
Carolyn Duffy Marsan, in her article in NetworkWorld contends that students in CS don’t necessarily plagiarize more. It is just that CS teachers are able to catch them due to access to automated tools. I didn’t use any software. I just used good old detective work. It wasn’t too tough to catch, frankly. One student’s use of odd variable names or a unique indentation of code, when replicated, jumped off the screen with a big red flag.
All copying occurred between students, not from online resources. I encourage collaboration between groups so students are allowed to ask other students for help. However, I draw the line with transferring of files. Students try to wiggle out of the infraction on that technicality, stating that they sat next to each other and programmed together, or one showed the other what he/she had done, while the other sat and typed.
I could use the approach that Georgia Tech uses, according to the article. They allow students to copy, in order to encourage collaboration, as long as the students can demonstrate their understanding of the code. Assessments count for more than homework assignments.
Plagiarism is a problem in this day and age of information at your fingertips. Technology makes it very easy to copy and call it your own. Students have such a cavalier attitude about copying and using music, video, and software without paying for it. Is that different than handing in an assignment for a grade, without working for it?
I experience disappointment and anger when plagiarism situations arise. And I am not naive enough to think that I found every copied piece of work this year. I look on the ones I do find as a teachable moment and see it as a good early warning to students before they get to college and beyond where it can have much large consequences.
Do you have plagiarism issues in your classroom?
How do you handle it? What do you do to prevent it?
Karen Lang
CSTA Board of Directors