0000000000383098
AUTHOR
Aletta Nylén
Multiple Authentic Project-Based Experiences and Persistent Learning?
This work-in-progress paper in the research category investigates students’ experiences of learning over two project-based courses, of which the first is taken during bachelor studies and the second is taken during master studies. The research goal was to explore if and how the first project experience was considered beneficial to the latter. A pilot interview was conducted and analyzed for qualitatively different themes. Transformative learning theory (TLT) is introduced as the theoretical framework because of its focus on persistent learning originating in transformations in meaning perspectives. The results are discussed in the context of TLT, and they inform curriculum design and resear…
Writing to Learn Programming? : A Single Case Pilot Study
This paper explores the use of writing-to-learn techniques in the context of programming education. It presents a pilot study where a writing assignment is introduced with the purpose of strengthening students' conceptual understanding of a programming construct. The intervention is evaluated using a single case research design, which is augmented by qualitative interview data. Students participating in the study were mildly positive towards the intervention and the results encourage more work on the topic. This work sets directions for further investigations into how writing-to-learn can strengthen programming education and contributes with insights into what kinds of results can be obtain…
Open-ended projects opened up — aspects of openness
Abstract—One of the most important areas of competence for professional engineers is the ability to function well in project work, in particular they need to be able to efficiently solve open-ended problems in different collaborative settings. The development of this ability is however not prominent in engineering education despite numerous authors suggesting openended problems as a pedagogical tool to promote development of collaborative problem solving competence by including elements of group or project work in courses. In our own long experience of using open-ended problems in collaborative student projects, we have identified a lack of systematic progression in learning outcomes and sk…
How Students Get Going : Triggers for Students’ Learning in Project-Based Education
Repeatedly documented positive student responses to project-based learning during its decades-long tradition in CS attest to the effectiveness of learning by doing. Support for reflective learning nevertheless continues to be a topic worth studying because the intensity of project work together with a high technical orientation among CS students often complicate reflective practice. A critical incident-inspired assignment was added to a project-based course to support reflective practice in spring 2017. In a previous study, the authors analyzed how students approached the assignment and whether they found it supportive for learning. The present study content-analyses the situations that tri…
Exploring the critical incident technique to encourage reflection during project-based learning
Previous research has reported on the challenge of promoting students' generic reflection during authentic project-based courses. This work explores a teaching intervention based on Flanagan's Critical Incident Technique (CIT) during a project-based software development course. The intervention aims at increasing students' awareness of their own learning and at encouraging reflective practice throughout the project. Students were asked to report on 'incidents' when they experienced learning during the course, and to reflect on the task itself at the end of the course. The present study focuses on how students approached the incident reporting task and how they perceived it. The results indi…