A New Learning Environment for Computer Science 1 Courses

第一学期的计算机科学(CSI)课程今天使用与20年前相同的教学模式-站立讲座仍然是教师和学生之间唯一的联系，也是授课的主要方法。讲课限制了互动，并为整个班级设定了步调一致的节奏。由于CSL课程的注册人数很多，学生们几乎没有收到关于他们进步的分级反馈，许多人在意识到这一点的情况下远远落后。学生的表现和兴趣下降是因为他们无法解决个人问题，缺乏培养，缺乏动力。讲座充满了基本的指导，几乎没有时间来强调最初将学生带入CS项目的有趣的研究和令人兴奋的应用程序。我们建议通过在CS1中添加一个重要的课件组件来解决这些问题。我们的目标是创造一个新的学习环境，增加互动，提高学生表现，更大的灵活性和更多的反馈。我们还可以增加非CS专业学生和高中生接受CS1教学的机会。我们已经开发了一个名为alecs的课件包，它包括超文本、图形、语音注释、动画、练习、案例研究和封闭式实验室。我们已经使用ALECS对CS1的结构进行了戏剧性的改变。在这个项目中，我们将扩展alecs以更好地支持我们的新学习环境，添加跟踪和报告功能来帮助我们评估alecs对学习的影响，并使其他大学和中学更容易使alecs适应自己的需求。我们已经开始与几所高中合作。高中教师一直在教室里使用alecs，并进行自己的培训。

First semester computer science (CSI) courses are taught today using the same instructional model as was used twenty years ago - standup lectures continue to be the only contact between instructors and students and the primary method for delivering instruction. Lectures limit interaction and set a lock-step pace for the entire class. Because of the large enrollments in CSl courses, students receive little graded feedback about their progress and many fall far behind without realizing it. Student performance and interest drops due to their inability to get individual problems addressed, a lack of nurturing, and a lack of motivation. Lectures are filled with basic instruction, which allows little time for highlighting the interesting research and exciting applications that bring students to the CS program in the first place. We propose to address these problems by adding a significant courseware component to CS1. Our objective is to create a new learning environment with increased interaction, higher student performance, greater flexibility and more feedback. We can also increase access to CS1 instruction for non-CS majors and high school students. We have developed a courseware package called ALECS, which consists of hypertext, graphics, voice annotations, animations, exercises, case studies, and closed labs. We have used ALECS to make dramatic changes in the structure of CS1. In this project, we will extend ALECS to better support our new learning environment, add tracking and reporting features to help us assess ALECS' impact on learning, and make it easier for other university and high schools to adapt ALECS to their own needs. We have already begun partnerships with several high schools. High school teachers have been using ALECS in their classrooms and for their own training.