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Abstract for Seminar
Dweck's 25-year programme exploring attitudes to learning potentially has much to offer computing education. Her concept of the mindset or belief held by a student concerning their perceived ability to learn a subject or skill essentially separates the student body into those who believe they can, and those who believe they can't, learn a particular subject. Changes in learning style and environment, such as are inevitable in the transition to university computing courses, tend to exacerbate this divide and, along with other effects, may go some way to explaining the bimodal distribution of marks typically found in such courses. Indeed, Dweck cites computer science in particular in her Self-Theories book.
Previous research in computing education has not demonstrated an effect on learning after exposure of students to the mindset theory. In this talk I will describe an experiment run at the University of Glasgow with first year programming students which had a significant effect on their performance. The strengths and shortcomings of the study will be outlined. A follow-up study is underway, and initial findings may also be ready in time for this talk.
Threaded through this research is the importance of our own attitudes to learning and what effect these have on our course designs and on our dealings with students. In the experiment described above, the course design is likely to be as important as the experimental intervention itself in producing an effect. These issues will also be explored in the talk.
Quintin Cutts is Senior Lecturer in Computing Science and Associate Dean for Learning and Teaching at the University of Glasgow.
As a lecturer, he has striven to increase the engagement of students with the subject at hand. This has led to research into the use of technology to improve face-to-face teaching and learning, particular through the use of electronic voting handsets in lectures. He was among the first to attempt to measure the effectiveness of this teaching innovation in improving learning. A recent exploration of student-generated questions has led to a new model of voting system use to support any kind of student induction process.
He has taken part in both multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary teaching and learning research projects, investigating the learning of computer programming and the nature of professionalism in higher education, respectively.
He has been involved in public understanding of Computer Science for a number of years, having held a major EPSRC public engagement project. This experience is being channelled into a new project to support teachers in preparing for Scotland's new Curriculum for Excellence, an opportunity to radically restructure the schools curriculum in favour of a real computer science education.