Collaborative Research: Assessing Concept Knowledge and Attitudes in Introductory Computer Science Courses

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This project is developing two assessment instruments to measure student learning outcomes and student attitudes in introductory computing courses. One instrument measures student learning outcomes for introductory programming courses and one measures students' attitudes towards computers and computer science. Each is designed to measure fundamental concepts that are not language specific. The validity and reliability of the resultant instruments is being demonstrated through extensive testing.Intellectual Merit: The project is based on the need to devise new assessment tools and to update two-decades-old assessment tools for computer science education. The need for new and updated assessment tools is particularly crucial in a dynamic field where changes in, and availability of, computing technology has reverberating effects on pedagogy and student experience in the classroom. The learning outcomes instrument is based on the content domain defined by the IEEE/ACM Computing Curriculum 2001 for a first course in object-oriented programming.Broader Impacts: A primary goal of many computer science education projects is to determine the extent to which a given instructional intervention has had an impact on student outcomes. However, valid and reliable assessment instruments that measure the desired goals and outcomes across different platforms are not currently available. This project is filling that gap. Careful attention is dedicated during the validation process to the impact that gender and ethnicity have on the validity of the resultant instruments.