Promoting Professional Behaviors among Students in Undergraduate Computing Courses

该项目旨在通过促进本科计算机课程学生的职业行为发展来服务于国家利益。传统的计算教育传授知识和技能，但专业的行为，如持久性，自我导向和适应性，是在专业计算工作人员的成功必不可少的。 雇主调查显示，职业行为或性格对工作场所的成功至关重要，就像学生在学术课程中培养的知识和技能一样。虽然众所周知的证据为基础的教学和学习方法的知识获取和技能的发展存在，没有类似的方法已经开发，以促进计算机教育的专业处置。在这个项目中，四个机构的教师计划合作研究如何在本科计算学生中推广这些行为，并要求学生解释他们如何在课程中应用这些行为，以及其他人如何在现实生活中使用这些行为。这个项目的目标是开发，实施，并研究使用反思练习和小插曲，以培养十个专业处置本科计算学生。该项目小组将通过以下方式从以前的研究中汲取经验和结果：（1）开发和使用小插曲;（2）针对五个额外的性格，如勤奋，创造性和责任感;（3）将研究延长四个学期;（4）纳入持续的改进周期;（5）将研究扩展到四个学期。（5）获得更大的数据集，研究性格如何影响计算中代表性不足的群体。将在多种情况下评估小插曲的使用情况：公共和私营机构，以及文科和专业研究。本研究将采用混合方法的准实验研究设计。在这个为期两年的项目，调查前，调查后，反思练习，和小插曲的每学期将在线管理。该小组将通过同行评审的方式，在计算机教育工作者和研究人员中传播评估结果、反思练习、一套50个小插曲以及设计和使用反思练习和小插曲的指导方针。NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project aims to serve the national interest by promoting the development of professional behaviors among students in undergraduate computing courses. Traditional computing education imparts knowledge and skills, however professional behaviors such as persistence, self-directedness, and adaptability, are essential for success in the professional computing workforce. Employer surveys reveal that professional behaviors, or dispositions, are as important for success in the workplace as the knowledge and skills students develop in their academic programs of study. Although well-known evidence-based teaching and learning approaches for knowledge acquisition and skill development exist, no similar approaches have been developed to foster professional dispositions in computing education. In this project, faculty at four institutions plan to collaboratively study how to promote these behaviors among undergraduate computing students using exercises that ask students to explain how they have applied these behaviors in their coursework and how others have used these behaviors in real-life scenarios. The goal of this project is to develop, implement, and study the use of reflection exercises and vignettes to foster ten professional dispositions among undergraduate computing students. The project team will build on its experiences and results from a previous study by: (1) developing and using vignettes; (2) targeting five additional dispositions such as meticulousness, inventiveness, and responsibility; (3) extending the study over four semesters; (4) incorporating a continuous cycle of improvement; and (5) given access to a larger data set, studying how dispositions affect groups underrepresented in computing. The use of vignettes will be evaluated in multiple contexts: public and private institutions, as well as liberal arts and professional studies. The study will use a mixed-methods quasi-experimental research design. During each semester of this two-year project, pre-survey, post-survey, reflection exercises, and vignettes will be administered online. The team will disseminate the evaluation results, reflection exercises, a suite of fifty vignettes, and guidelines for designing and using reflection exercises and vignettes among computing educators and researchers through peer-reviewed venues. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.