Technologies for STEM learning

An investigation into the way Jupyter Notebooks enhance learning and teaching on TM351

Project leader(s):

Sharon Dawes and Chris Thomson

Faculty:

STEM

Status:

Current

Body:

TM351 (Data Management and Analysis) has used Jupyter (2019) notebooks for practical work from its inception in 2016. This web based tool enables students to embed program code and associated discussion in a notebook in the style of a lab book (Appendix B) so that they can explain what they were doing and why. Teaching materials include notebooks in the same style, to explain a concept and then show its practical application such that the example can be run. In this way students can return to a project at a later stage and if their notes were sufficient, they or another researcher can repeat the work and study how valid their assumptions were as well as whether their conclusions in a report were justified.

The project will investigate how students divide their time between theoretical reading on the TM351 module website and practical work using notebooks, both as a part of their learning, and then practice for their final report. It will explore to what extent their use of the notebooks reinforces their learning or extends their knowledge. It will look at whether there is any relationship between where they are currently studying and what computing devices they have available when the student works at home, at work or on the go that might affect their ability to undertake practical work using notebooks as opposed to theoretical reading using other provided materials.

The research questions the project will answer are:

Does the use of notebooks effectively support students in their studies of the module learning outcomes?
Do notebooks allow the students to integrate theory and practice?
Do students have technological problems in using notebooks?
Does the use of notebooks dictate when and where students are able to study?
Is the use of notebooks restricted by accessibility constraints?

Dawes, S. and Thomson, C. (2019) project poster (PDF)

Theme:

Technologies for STEM learning

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Pair Programming as a tool to enhance teaching and learning of programming at a distance

Project leader(s):

Adeola Adeliyi

Faculty:

STEM

Status:

Current

Body:

WHAT PEDAGOGIC ISSUE OR PROBLEM WE ARE ADDRESSING

Pair programming is a key aspect of Extreme Programming (XP), which encourages informal and immediate communication over joint coding work. The technique involves two developers: one in a driver role writes the code, controlling the keyboard and mouse, and the other, the navigator, reviews the code as the driver writes it. There is now a substantial body of evidence in support of improved coding outcomes when pair programming is used in teaching (Ghorashi 2016; Mehmet et al. 2018).

Despite these proven academic benefits for collocated classroom settings, distance and online settings are yet to benefit. The isolation and impoverished learning experience some students report points to an urgent need for tools and methods that support remote pair programming in a distributed educational setting to be developed.

In a traditional instructor-led teaching environment, pair programming is relatively easy to implement. This is more challenging in distance teaching and learning situations. Some of these challenges include:

Students experiencing isolation and exclusion
Problematic communication due to students having fewer interactive and communication options in a remote setting
Access to code repository

WHAT WE ARE INTENDING TO DO TO ADDRESS THIS ISSUE

To improve teaching programming at a distance, using Pair-Programming as collaborative learning tool, we will:

Carry out extensive literature review on existing academic research on collaborative learning, methods and tools developed to support pair programming (both traditional and remote style) and real time coding in education (both collocated and distance settings) to identify principles of effective pair programming.
Identify and/or develop tools that will support remote pair-programming taking the identified principles of effective pair programming into account.
Review the current Open University teaching and laboratory practices in use for teaching computing related subjects: TM112 – Introduction to computing and information technology 2, TM129 – Technology in practice, M250 – Object-oriented programming in Java, M269 – Algorithms, data structures and computability.
In conjunction with student partners, we will carry out two user studies, which will evaluate:

The effectiveness of collaborative tools.
The effectiveness of the method of pairing, such as voluntary, randomized, knowledge-based, demographic pairing.
Evaluation of students’ experience, feedback, programming skills, and evidence of academic improvement.
Improvement carried out on the methods and tools.

WHAT THE IMPACTS AND USES OF THIS WORK ARE

The evidence-based results will support improved learning outcomes when pair programming techniques are used in teaching programming at a distance.

WHAT THE OVERALL OUTCOMES FOR THE PROJECT ARE

Reduce collaboration obstacles enough to make remote pair programming worthwhile and attractive to students at the Open University.
Contribute to the wider academic research think-tank, the development of collaborative techniques for delivery of teaching programming at a distance.

Adeliyi, A. (2019) project poster (PDF)

Theme:

Technologies for STEM learning

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Associate Lecturers’ Involvement in Improved Practice in a SXPS288 Labcast Delivery

Project leader(s):

Venetia Brown

Faculty:

STEM

Status:

Current

Body:

SXPS288 ‘Remote Experiments in Physics and Space’ will be presented in 19J as a re-written module of the previous SXPA288. SXPS288-19J will broadcast live, interactive web-broadcasts (i.e. labcasts) throughout various blocks of the module. There are ten Associate Lecturers (ALs) and approximately 200 students on the module. For the 19J presentation, there will be a new student project and remote experiment in the module that will be supported by labcasts. Recent findings indicate that labcasts in OU STEM modules can have a positive impact on student learning, motivation and engender deeper engagement with the wider OU science community (Thomson and Velasco, 2019). However, overall cohort participation and voluntary staff uptake in optional labcasts events remain relatively low.

To address these issues, the project will run and evaluate a labcast initiative for ALs to learn more about the new aspects of the module and engage in a SXPS288 labcast. The module team chair has agreed to present this labcast. All ten ALs will be asked to participate. As some ALs are aware of the labcasts and some are not, the project aim would be to give ALs a greater understanding of the practical elements of labcasting and of the student experience to better support students on the module.

The project will investigate ALs experiences and perspectives on labcasting. The impacts of this project will be to listen to the ALs’ voice on their roles, facilitate their professional development and inform future labcast designs. This project is aimed specifically at ALs and will complement a wider PhD study of student experience and participation in labcasts. The findings of both studies will feed into the development of future SXPS288 presentations. Labcasts are also used in other modules across STEM, therefore the findings will inform understanding and provide recommendations to other module teams in their overall labcast and tuition strategies.

Brown, V. and Cayless, A. (2019) project poster (PDF)

Theme:

Technologies for STEM learning

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1 of 11

Technologies for STEM learning

An investigation into the way Jupyter Notebooks enhance learning and teaching on TM351

Pair Programming as a tool to enhance teaching and learning of programming at a distance

Associate Lecturers’ Involvement in Improved Practice in a SXPS288 Labcast Delivery

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