skip to main content
10.1145/2889160.2889185acmconferencesArticle/Chapter ViewAbstractPublication PagesicseConference Proceedingsconference-collections
research-article

Reflections on applying constructive alignment with formative feedback for teaching introductory programming and software architecture

Published:14 May 2016Publication History

ABSTRACT

Constructive alignment is a student-centred approach to teaching and learning that aims to enhance student learning through a combination of constructivist learning theories and aligned curriculum. This paper presents two case studies where units have been developed to apply the principles of constructive alignment in the area of computer science and software engineering. It outlines the role of formative feedback and delayed summative assessment as a means of embedding constructivist learning theories in the application of constructive alignment. The discussion outlines some of the challenges and advantages gained from the greater focus on formative feedback during the teaching period, and presents some recommendations for others considering applying constructive alignment.

References

  1. J. R. Anderson, L. M. Reder, H. A. Simon, K. A. Ericsson, and R. Glaser. Radical constructivism and cognitive psychology. Brookings papers on education policy, (1):227--278, 1998.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  2. C. Argyris. Theories of action that inhibit individual learning. American Psychologist, 31(9):638:654, 1976.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  3. J. Armarego. Constructive Alignment in SE education: aligning to what?, pages 15--37. ACM, 2009.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  4. C. Atkinson. Beyond Bullets Points: using Microsoft® Office PowerPoint® 2007 to create presentations that inform, motivate, and inspire. Microsoft Press, 2007. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  5. J. Biggs. Enhancing teaching through constructive alignment. Higher Education, 32:347--364, 1996.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  6. J. Biggs and C. Tang. Assessment by portfolio: Constructing learning and designing teaching. Research and Development in Higher Education, pages 79--87, 1997.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  7. J. B. Biggs and K. F. Collis. Evaluating the Quality of Learning: The SOLO taxonomy (Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome). Academic Press New York, 1982.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  8. J. B. Biggs and C. Tang. Teaching for quality learning at university. McGraw-Hill Education, 4th edition, 2011.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  9. P. Black and D. Wiliam. Assessment and classroom learning. Assessment in Education, 5(1):7--74, 1998.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  10. B. S. Bloom. Some theoretical issues relating to educational evaluation. Educational Evaluation: New Roles, New Means (National Society for the Study of Evaluation Yearbook, Part II), 68:26--50, 1969.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  11. C. Brabrand. Constructive alignment for teaching model-based design for concurrency. Transactions on Petri Nets and Other Models of Concurrency I, pages 1--18, 2008. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  12. A. Cain. Developing assessment criteria for portfolio assessed introductory programming. In Proceedings of the 2nd IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment and Learning for Engineering, pages 55--60. IEEE, 2013.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  13. A. Cain and C. J. Woodward. Toward constructive alignment with portfolio assessment for introductory programming. In Proceedings of the first IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment and Learning for Engineering, pages 345--350. IEEE, 2012.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  14. S. A. Cohen. Instructional alignment: Searching for a magic bullet. Educational Researcher, 16(8):16--20, 1987.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  15. A. Q. F. Council. Australian qualifications framework. Australian Qualifications Framework Council, South Australia, second edition, 1 2013.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  16. A. Gaspar and S. Langevin. An experience report on improving constructive alignment in an introduction to programming. Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges, 28(2):132--140, 12 2012. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  17. A. Gharib, W. Phillips, and N. Mathew. Cheat sheet or open-book? a comparison of the effects of exam types on performance, retention, and anxiety. Psychology Research, 2(8):469--478, 8 2012.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  18. G. Gibbs and C. Simpson. Conditions under which assessment supports students learning. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 1(1):3--31, 2004.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  19. M. Haigh. Writing successfully for the journal of geography in higher education. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 37(1):117--135, 6 2013.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  20. D. H. Jonassen. Objectivism versus constructivism: Do we need a new philosophical paradigm? Educational technology research and development, 39(3):5--14, 1991.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  21. E. Martin, M. Prosser, K. Trigwell, P. Ramsden, and J. Benjamin. What university teachers teach and how they teach it. Instructional Science, 28:387--412, 2000.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  22. F. Marton and R. Säljö. On qualitative differences in learning- II outcome as a function of the learner's conception of the task. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 46(2):115--127, 6 1976.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  23. F. Marton and R. Säljö. On qualitative differences in learning: I - outcome and process. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 46(1):4--11, 2 1976.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  24. F. Marton and R. Säljö. Approaches to learning. In F. Marton, D. Hounsell, and N. Entwistle, editors, The Experience of Learning: Implications for teaching and studying in higher education, pages 39--58. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh, Centre for Teaching, Learning and Assessment, 3rd internet edition, 2005.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  25. R. E. Mayer. The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning. Cambridge University Press, 2005.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  26. D. C. Phillips. The good, the bad, and the ugly: The many faces of constructivism. Educational researcher, 24(7):5--12, 1995.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  27. R. Phillips. Challenging the primacy of lectures: The dissonance between theory and practice in university teaching. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 2(1), 2005.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  28. J. Piaget. Psychology of Intelligence. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1950.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  29. P. Ramsden. A performance indicator of teaching quality in higher education: The course experience questionnaire. Studies in Higher Education, 16(2):129--150, 1991.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  30. P. Ramsden. Learning to Teach in Higher Education. Psychology Press, 1992.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  31. M. J. Rubin. The effectiveness of live-coding to teach introductory programming. In Proceeding of the 44th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education, SIGCSE '13, pages 651--656, New York, NY, USA, 2013. ACM. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  32. M. Scriven. The methodology of evaluation. In R. W. Tyler, R. M. Gagne, and M. Scriven, editors, Perspectives of Curriculum Evaluation, volume 1, pages 39--83. Rand McNally, Chicago, IL, 1967.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  33. K. Skinner. Bridging gaps and jumping through hoops: First-year history students expectations and perceptions of assessment and feedback in a research-intensive uk university. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 13(4):359--376, 10 2014.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  34. L. P. Steffe and J. E. Gale. Constructivism in education. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, NJ, 1995.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  35. I. Suto, G. Elliott, N. Rushton, and S. Mehta. Course struggle, exam stress, or a fear of the unknown? a study of a level students?' assessment preferences and the reasons behind them. Educational Futures, 6(2), 2014.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  36. N. Thota and R. Whitfield. Holistic approach to learning and teaching introductory object-oriented programming. Computer Science Education, 20(2):103--127, 2010.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  37. R. W. Tyler. Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction. University of Chicago Press, 1969.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  38. C. Vrasidas. Constructivism versus objectivism: Implications for interaction, course design, and evaluation in distance education. International Journal of Educational Telecommunications, 6(4):339--362, 2000.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  39. D. Wiliam. Formative assessment: Getting the focus right. Educational Assessment, 11(3-4):283--289, 2006.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  40. C. J. Woodward, A. Cain, S. Pace, and F. K. J. Jones, A. Helping students track learning progress using burn down charts. In Proceedings of the 2nd IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment and Learning for Engineering, pages 104--109. IEEE, 2013.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  1. Reflections on applying constructive alignment with formative feedback for teaching introductory programming and software architecture

    Recommendations

    Comments

    Login options

    Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

    Sign in
    • Published in

      cover image ACM Conferences
      ICSE '16: Proceedings of the 38th International Conference on Software Engineering Companion
      May 2016
      946 pages
      ISBN:9781450342056
      DOI:10.1145/2889160

      Copyright © 2016 ACM

      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]

      Publisher

      Association for Computing Machinery

      New York, NY, United States

      Publication History

      • Published: 14 May 2016

      Permissions

      Request permissions about this article.

      Request Permissions

      Check for updates

      Qualifiers

      • research-article

      Acceptance Rates

      Overall Acceptance Rate276of1,856submissions,15%

      Upcoming Conference

      ICSE 2025

    PDF Format

    View or Download as a PDF file.

    PDF

    eReader

    View online with eReader.

    eReader