Multi-Institutional Teaching Communities in Computer Education

Sally Fincher Raymond Lister Arnold Pears Computing Laboratory, Faculty of Information Technology, Dept of Information Technology, University of Kent, University of Technology, Sydney, Uppsala University, United Kingdom Australia Sweden [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Judy Sheard Josh Tenenberg Alison Young School of Computer Science and Computing and Software Systems Computing and Information Software Engineering Institute of Technology Technology Monash University University of Washington, Unitec, Auckland Australia United States of America New Zealand [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

1 Raymond Lister: the Chair’s Introduction 2 Sally Fincher: The Computer Science Most Information Technology academics lead double Discipline Network (CSDN) lives. In our research lives, we are involved in a The UK Computer Science Discipline Network (CSDN) community that exists primarily beyond our own was initially funded for one year (1994-95) in the first- university. We read the literature, we attend conferences, phase of the governmental Discipline Networks' we work within well defined theoretical or empirical Initiative. It subsequently succeeded in gaining funding frameworks, we publish, and the cycle repeats, with for another year (1995-96) in the second round of first- community members building upon each other's work. phase bidding. One of the major aims of CSDN was to In contrast, for most of us, our teaching lives are engage, develop, support and sustain a community of relatively private, and primarily confined to our own interested practitioners. university. We tend not to read teaching literature, we are I’ll examine the needs which CSDN set out to fulfil, the guided primarily by our direct experiences, intuitions, and mechanisms by which we tried to achieve our aims and introspections. The outcome is rarely exposed to peer what happened to CSDN following the cessation of review beyond our own institutions. Given these double government funding. lives, is it any wonder that, while Information Technology continues to leap forward as a consequence of research, the teaching of Information Technology remains, for the most part, the same-old-same-old? 3 Arnold Pears: CeTUSS Could the down turn in student numbers be related to that The Centrum för Teknik Utbildning i Studenternas same-old-same-old? Sammanhang (CeTUSS) is a Swedish national center aimed at improving teaching and learning in tertiary Teaching doesn't have to be a private life, with a focus technology and engineering courses in Sweden. CeTUSS upon a single institution. There is a national and has chosen three mechanisms intended to result in international IT education community. There is literature enhancements to teaching and learning practices: bi- to read and places to publish. When done well, education annual themed workshops; annual courses in teaching and research is every bit as rigorous and as scholarly as "good learning and educational research methods; and old fashioned" research. In this session, panellists will dissemination of information about research activities describe their experiences in building and working within relevant to tertiary education through the center's web site multi-institutional IT education communities. (CeTUSS).

Workshops consist of invited speakers and contributions Copyright © 2006, Australian Computer Society, Inc. This from workshop participants. Contributions are focused paper appeared at the 8th Australian Institute of Computer Ethics Conference (AICE2000), Canberra. Conferences in around the workshop theme and provide an opportunity Research and Practice in Information Technology, Vol. XXX. for tertiary educators to exchange ideas and experiences Tolhurst, D. & Mann, S, Eds. Reproduction for academic, not- and discuss novel approaches to teaching and learning, as for profit purposes permitted provided this text is included. well as research studies outcomes relevant to improving tertiary education in technology and engineering. Australasian Computing Education Community website Courses satisfy an increasing demand for continuing was established in 2004. This provides a virtual presence education in didactics and pedagogics by tertiary teaching for the ACE Community and will help raise the profile of staff. CeTUSS courses provide a more structured in computing education research (Sheard & Carbone 2004). service training opportunity with an emphasis on new approaches to teaching and learning. Each course is There is much evidence that scholarship and research in typically led by an internationally recognized expert and computing education is happening, although there many provides exposure to research methods and experience are issues that we face. I will discuss the challenges in with new approaches to structuring learning situations developing a higher profile for computing education and facilitating acquisition of knowledge. research and the importance of the computing education research community in this process. Dissemination of local and foreign material to the community of tertiary educators is also important. The web site provides wider access to the material from 5 Josh Tenenberg: The Disciplinary workshops and courses, as well as providing other Commons resources such as site visit reports, conference summaries The Disciplinary Commons is a new project with two and related materials collected by the center during its objectives. The first is to document and share knowledge other activities. about student learning on courses in Computer Science in

two- and four-year institutions in Washington State. The 4 Judy Sheard: CERG and Building the second is to improve the quality of teaching in Computer Computing Education Research Science (CS) within Washington State by establishing practices for the scholarship of teaching by making it Community public, peer-reviewed, and amenable for future use and The Computing Education Research Group (CERG) at development by other IT educators. Monash University was established in 1997. The research interests of group members are diverse but sit broadly The mechanism for achieving these objectives is via the under the umbrella of computing education. There are shared production of course portfolios. This mechanism two main foci of CERG: the improvement of teaching will be instantiated through a series of monthly seminars and learning of computing topics, and the employment of involving 8-10 faculty at community colleges and technology to assist with the teaching and learning baccalaureate-degree granting universities in the South process. Since its establishment the membership of Puget Sound region of Washington State, USA. CERG has grown and diversified. Through various Participants met for the first time in September 2005 and research activities we have formed many links with other are meeting for one half-day per month over the 2005-6 groups and institutions both nationally and academic year, at locations that rotate among the internationally. This has seen the development of an participant home institutions. At these meetings, informal community. participants learn how to construct a course portfolio, skills of classroom assessment and peer review, and Within CERG there is a core group that is committed to critically evaluate one another's work-in-progress. The the pursuit of scholarship and research in computing course portfolio, well known as a method for advancing education. However, a difficulty we face is that there is a teaching practice and improving student learning, is a set view that computing education research is not core of documents that “focuses on the unfolding of a single research within the IT discipline. This issue is often course, from conception to results” (Hutchings, 1998). raised among academics and was highlighted in a large Course portfolios typically include a course's learning national project (ICT-Ed) that investigated teaching and objectives, its contents and structure, a rationale for how learning in the information and communication this course design meets its objectives, and the course's technology (ICT) discipline within Australian universities role in a larger degree program. Importantly, the (Hurst, Lynch, Collins and Markham 2001). The portfolio also includes evaluations of student work consequence of this is that many academics find that the throughout the term, indicating the extent to which pursuit of computing education research is not valued by students are meeting course objectives and the type and their colleagues or well supported by their institutions quantity of feedback they are receiving. Each participant (Lynch, Sheard, Carbone & Collins 2002). in the seminar will construct a course portfolio for a course that they teach that is on the path for a There is a need to increase the profile of computing baccalaureate degree in a Computer Science program. education research. One way this can be achieved is by The power of the portfolio approach is multiplied when developing the community of academics engaging in this there are several examples available for a single research. The Australasian Computing Education disciplinary aspect: the Commons would act as a portfolio conferences provide valuable forums for academics with repository and archive, charting and calibrating an interest in computing education. The ongoing support excellence over time. of these conferences has demonstrated that there is a Through its unique structure and focus, the Portfolio community of enthusiastic and committed people Commons provides an opportunity for faculty at two- and interested in this field of research and scholarship. In four-year institutions to understand the different contexts, recognition of the need to support this community, the students, and nature of learning at one another's institutions, facilitates practices of individual reflection whose primary interest in information systems, or any and peer collaboration, and disseminates knowledge other computer education teacher who would not classify about teaching and learning of CS in the South Puget themself as a computer scientist. Membership of the Sound region of Washington State via a set of persistent SIGCSE does not require membership of the ACM. The teaching artefacts that can serve as the basis of a long- annual membership fee is $US25 ($US8 for students). term repository of teaching and learning in CS. For that very reasonable fee, members receive the SIGSCE’s “Bulletin” four times a year. Two of the The Disciplinary Commons project has been co- Bulletin’s issues are the proceedings of the two leading developed with Sally Fincher who is running a parallel international conferences on Computer Education. series of workshops in the UK. Members also have access to the “sigcse-members” mailing list. Membership of the SIGCSE is a cheap and effective way of staying in touch with international trends 6 Alison Young: The National Advisory in computer education. Committee on Computing Qualifications It is possible to start “local” chapters of the SIGCSE, The National Advisory Committee on Computing where people who share an interest in computer education Qualifications (NACCQ) was founded in New Zealand in can meet regularly, for lectures, discussion groups, 1988 as a result of a review of the national qualifications workshops, etc. Attendance at such meetings is not in data processing and information technology. The restricted to SIGCSE members, but the chapter must have NACCQ sector includes the information and a core of group of SIGSCE members. A chapter must communication technologies departments of all hold a minimum of four meetings per year to be polytechnics, institutes of technology and two of the considered active, and is also expected to set up and universities in New Zealand. The executive committee maintain a chapter web site. consists of elected representatives of the academic sector The SIGCSE suggests that a tradition of meeting and a strong representation from the information and regularly be established before applying to become a communication technologies industry. This structure chapter. One way of doing that is via a conventicle reinforces the goals of the NACCQ to work hand in hand (Lister, 2001, 2004). A conventicle is a day with a with industry to develop and deliver current marketable conference format, where the speakers present again qualifications that are industry focussed and to ensure that papers that they have already had peer-reviewed and students are work ready when they graduate. accepted at other conferences, or in journals. In Sydney, The NACCQ is set up to offer support and advice to the we held our first conventicle in 2001. Since then, we have member institutions teaching Information and held a conventicle each year. After the second Communications Technology programmes and also to conventicle, the venue has rotated among Sydney’s promote the teaching, learning, research and development universities. Word of the idea has spread to other in this field which will maintain a high quality of Australian cities and in 2004 the computing academics in graduates for the industry. They also provide guidance the cities of Melbourne and Brisbane held their first and advice on programme management, co-ordinate the conventicles. development of resources for academic staff and encourage national and international recognition of the 8 References qualifications. ACEC: The Australasian Computing Education The NACCQ has two major working groups, the first on Community website. http://cerg.csse.monash.edu.au/ Curriculum and Quality and the second group focuses on acec/. Accessed August 2005. Research and Support. Part of the objectives of the CeTUSS: The Centrum för Teknik Utbildning i research and Support Working Group is to publish a Studenternas Sammanhang. http://www.cetuss.se/. refereed journal, organise an annual conference with Accessed August 2005. refereed proceedings and they also have an on-line refereed journal. Creating a Disciplinary Commons in Computer Science through the use of Course Portfolios. In this panel session I will describe the organisation of the http://depts.washington.edu/comgrnd/. Accessed NACCQ and outline the advantages of a successful August 2005. academic and industry partnership that has supported the teaching, learning and research in the information and Creating a Disciplinary Commons in Computing communications sector for nearly 20 years Education. http://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/people/staff/saf/ dc/index.html. Accessed August 2005. 7 Raymond Lister: The SIGCSE and its CSDN: Computer Science Discipline Network. chapters; conventicles http://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/national/CSDN/ Accessed The Association for Computing Machinery’s Special August 2005. Interest Group on Computer Science Education Hurst, J., Lynch, J., Collins, F., and Markham, S. (2001). (SIGCSE) is probably the largest international Teaching ICT: Higher Education Division, Department organization that focuses exclusively upon computer of Education, Training and Youth Affairs. education (SIGCSE, 2005). The use of the term “Computer Science” in SIGCSE should not deter anyone Hutchings, P. (Ed.). (1998) The course portfolio: How faculty can examine their teaching to advance practice and student learning. Washington, DC: American Association for Higher Education. Lister, R. (2001). SRITEC 2001: Sydney Region IT Education Conventicle. http://www- staff.it.uts.edu.au/~raymond/sritec2001/ Accessed August 2005. Lister, R. (2004). A Clandestine Religious Meeting. The SIGCSE Bulletin, 36(4 , December) , pp. 17-18. Lynch, J., Sheard, J., Carbone, A., and Collins, F. (2002). The scholarship of teaching: Risky business in ICT education. Proc. Australian Association of Reseach in Education (AARE 2002), Brisbane,Australia. NACCQ: The National Advisory Committee on Computing Qualifications. http://www.naccq.ac.nz/. Accessed August 2005. Sheard, J., & Carbone, A. (2004). From Informal to Formal: Creating the Australasian Computing Education Community. Proceedings of the 6th Australasian Computing Education conference (ACE 2004), Dunedin, New Zealand, 291-298. SIGCSE: The ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education. http://www.sigcse.org/. Accessed August 2005.