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Instructor Perspectives on Prerequisite Courses in Computing

Published: 03 March 2023 Publication History

Abstract

Recent research in computing has shown that student performance on prerequisite course content varies widely, even when students continue to progress further through the computing curriculum. Our work investigates instructors' perspectives on the purpose of prerequisite courses and whether that purpose is being fulfilled. In order to identify the range of instructor views, we interviewed twenty-one computer science instructors, at two institutions, that teach a variety of courses in their respective departments. We conducted a phenomenographic analysis on the interview transcripts, which revealed a wide variety of views on prerequisite courses. The responses shed light on various issues with prerequisite course knowledge, as well as issues around responsibility and conflicting pressures on instructors. These issues arise at the department level, as well as with individual course offerings.

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Cited By

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  • (2024)Prerequisite knowledge‐based automated course planning with semantics considerationComputer Applications in Engineering Education10.1002/cae.2274832:4Online publication date: 24-Apr-2024
  • (2023)Just-In-Time Prerequisite Review for a Machine Learning CourseProceedings of the 25th Western Canadian Conference on Computing Education10.1145/3593342.3593356(1-2)Online publication date: 4-May-2023
  • (2023)From "Ban It Till We Understand It" to "Resistance is Futile": How University Programming Instructors Plan to Adapt as More Students Use AI Code Generation and Explanation Tools such as ChatGPT and GitHub CopilotProceedings of the 2023 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research - Volume 110.1145/3568813.3600138(106-121)Online publication date: 7-Aug-2023

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cover image ACM Conferences
SIGCSE 2023: Proceedings of the 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 1
March 2023
1481 pages
ISBN:9781450394314
DOI:10.1145/3545945
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License.

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Published: 03 March 2023

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  1. curriculum
  2. knowledge retention
  3. prerequisites

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Overall Acceptance Rate 1,595 of 4,542 submissions, 35%

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View all
  • (2024)Prerequisite knowledge‐based automated course planning with semantics considerationComputer Applications in Engineering Education10.1002/cae.2274832:4Online publication date: 24-Apr-2024
  • (2023)Just-In-Time Prerequisite Review for a Machine Learning CourseProceedings of the 25th Western Canadian Conference on Computing Education10.1145/3593342.3593356(1-2)Online publication date: 4-May-2023
  • (2023)From "Ban It Till We Understand It" to "Resistance is Futile": How University Programming Instructors Plan to Adapt as More Students Use AI Code Generation and Explanation Tools such as ChatGPT and GitHub CopilotProceedings of the 2023 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research - Volume 110.1145/3568813.3600138(106-121)Online publication date: 7-Aug-2023

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