Article

Targeting program visualizations

Authors:

Essi Lahtinen,

Hannu-Matti Järvinen,

Suvi Melakoski-VistbackaAuthors Info & Claims

ITiCSE '07: Proceedings of the 12th annual SIGCSE conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education

Pages 256 - 260

https://doi.org/10.1145/1268784.1268858

Published: 25 June 2007 Publication History

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Abstract

To instruct students on the use of visualizations most beneficially the teacher needs to know who the students are that use the visualizations, for what they use them, and what kind of problems they have. Empirical research has been carried out on the educational impact of visualizations in test situations, but this survey presents the students' normal way of studying when the use of visualizations is voluntary.

We present the results of an international survey of 335 students who are studying programming and whose teachers have offered visualizations as extra material for the students. Their teachers also answered the survey. The article analyses different kinds of student groups, their usage of visualizations, and problems with them. We explore the background and motivation of the students and compare this information to their experiences of the use of the visualizations.

We identified two groups of students who use visualizations differently: moderately successful students able to work independently and weaker students who need teachers guidance with the visualizations. We suggest tips for teachers on how to use visualizations in teaching and provide information for the development of program visualization tools.

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Cited By

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Knobelsdorf MIsohanni ETenenberg JLaakso MMcCartney R(2012)The reasons might be differentProceedings of the 12th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research10.1145/2401796.2401797(1-10)Online publication date: 15-Nov-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2401796.2401797
Kadar RSulaiman S(2010)The effectiveness of Zoom Visual Flow (ZViF) technique in program comprehension activities2010 International Symposium on Information Technology10.1109/ITSIM.2010.5561292(1-6)Online publication date: Jun-2010
https://doi.org/10.1109/ITSIM.2010.5561292
Alharbi AHenskens FHannaford M(2010)Integrated Standard Environment for the Teaching and Learning of Operating Systems Algorithms Using VisualizationsProceedings of the 2010 Fifth International Multi-conference on Computing in the Global Information Technology10.1109/ICCGI.2010.12(205-208)Online publication date: 20-Sep-2010
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/ICCGI.2010.12
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Index Terms

Targeting program visualizations
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education
      1. Computing education programs
        Computer science education
        Information science education

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Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

ITiCSE '07: Proceedings of the 12th annual SIGCSE conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education

June 2007

386 pages

ISBN:9781595936103

DOI:10.1145/1268784

General Chair:
Janet Hughes
University of Dundee, UK
,
Program Chairs:
Ramanee Peiris
University of Dundee, UK
,
Paul Tymann
Rochester Institute of Technology

ACM SIGCSE Bulletin Volume 39, Issue 3
Proceedings of the 12th annual SIGCSE conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education (ITiCSE'07)
September 2007
366 pages
ISSN:0097-8418
DOI:10.1145/1269900
Issue’s Table of Contents

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 25 June 2007

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ITiCSE07

Sponsor:

ITiCSE07: 12th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education

June 25 - 27, 2007

Dundee, Scotland

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ITiCSE '07 Paper Acceptance Rate 62 of 210 submissions, 30%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 552 of 1,613 submissions, 34%

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Cited By

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Knobelsdorf MIsohanni ETenenberg JLaakso MMcCartney R(2012)The reasons might be differentProceedings of the 12th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research10.1145/2401796.2401797(1-10)Online publication date: 15-Nov-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2401796.2401797
Kadar RSulaiman S(2010)The effectiveness of Zoom Visual Flow (ZViF) technique in program comprehension activities2010 International Symposium on Information Technology10.1109/ITSIM.2010.5561292(1-6)Online publication date: Jun-2010
https://doi.org/10.1109/ITSIM.2010.5561292
Alharbi AHenskens FHannaford M(2010)Integrated Standard Environment for the Teaching and Learning of Operating Systems Algorithms Using VisualizationsProceedings of the 2010 Fifth International Multi-conference on Computing in the Global Information Technology10.1109/ICCGI.2010.12(205-208)Online publication date: 20-Sep-2010
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/ICCGI.2010.12
Sheard JSimon SHamilton MLönnberg JClancy MCaspersen MLister R(2009)Analysis of research into the teaching and learning of programmingProceedings of the fifth international workshop on Computing education research workshop10.1145/1584322.1584334(93-104)Online publication date: 10-Aug-2009
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1584322.1584334
Benaya TZur E(2008)Understanding Object Oriented Programming Concepts in an Advanced Programming CourseProceedings of the 3rd international conference on Informatics in Secondary Schools - Evolution and Perspectives: Informatics Education - Supporting Computational Thinking10.1007/978-3-540-69924-8_15(161-170)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2008
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-540-69924-8_15
Sorva JKaravirta VMalmi L(2013)A Review of Generic Program Visualization Systems for Introductory Programming EducationACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/249082213:4(1-64)Online publication date: 1-Nov-2013
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2490822
Schoeman MGelderblom HMuller H(2013)Investigating the Effect of Program Visualization on Introductory Programming in a Distance Learning EnvironmentAfrican Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education10.1080/10288457.2013.82840817:1-2(139-151)Online publication date: 9-Sep-2013
https://doi.org/10.1080/10288457.2013.828408
Wei JTsai MLee GHuang JLee D(2009)GeoBuilderIEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics10.1109/TVCG.2008.9315:2(234-248)Online publication date: 1-Mar-2009
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/TVCG.2008.93
Lahtinen EMalmi LPears A(2008)Students' individual differences in using visualizationsProceedings of the 8th International Conference on Computing Education Research10.1145/1595356.1595373(92-95)Online publication date: 13-Nov-2008
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1595356.1595373

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