Generative AI (GenAI) is currently capable of generating correct code for introductory level programming problems, and its performance is improving. We believe that this capability can be leveraged to improve student motivation, broaden students’ understanding of software development, and engage them in more authentic learning. We defined a set of assumptions about GenAI’s future capabilities (e.g., the ability to generate small pieces of code and to compose these pieces of code via user prompts) and engaged in a backcasting exercise to identify what else is needed to develop a CS1 course that places GenAI in a central role. Undertaking this thought experiment immediately revealed that aspects of the software development process usually reserved for later in the curriculum, such as requirements elicitation and design, could be introduced earlier in the process. With GenAI tools bearing the load of generating correct code snippets, students could focus on higher-level software design and construction skills and practice them in an authentic environment. Our thought experiment identified a set of questions that need to be addressed for such a course to actually exist, including questions about student preparation, and the ability of students to decompose problems effectively and to resolve problems that arise when integrating pieces of code. We also identified questions related to the design of a GenAI centered course, such as the impact on student motivation of using GenAI instead of engaging directly with code, the extent to which social learning theories apply to interactions with GenAI, and how existing pedagogies can integrate GenAI tools.

Digital Technologies (DT) achievement standards including computer science and programming were introduced as elective subjects in New Zealand’s high schools more than 10 years ago. However, many challenges still exist with regards to student participation and the teaching of these subjects. This motivated us to seek local and international experts’ opinions regarding the future of high school DT education in New Zealand, and possible solutions to improve the present situation. In this paper we present results from a three round Delphi study with a panel of 32 experts, exploring their perspectives on likely and desirable future scenarios. After three rounds of survey we can provide the following major findings: First, most experts indicated that either Little Change or Slow Improvements are more likely to occur than Significant Improvements within the next ten years. Second, more professional development for teachers and free availability of approved resources were regarded as the most important solutions to be implemented, amongst many others, to achieve a desirable future scenario.

Modern Virtual Reality technology allows for an affordable, immersive experience of three-dimensionally reconstructed real, built environments. Increasingly, not only the visual aspects of buildings can be captured and reconstructed in much detail, but also the acoustic properties of them, for instance with convolution reverb recordings. In an exploratory, empirical study with 27 lay people we investigated to which degree the captured and rendered acoustic properties of a building have to match the visual properties for a coherent virtual reality experience, mainly addressing two questions: (1) can we as non-acoustics experts, using conventional hardware, produce a realistic experience and (2) to which degree can participants distinguish different sound conditions? To do so we recorded Room Impulse Response files of three different built environments using consumer-grade equipment. We found that more than half of the participants chose the technically most accurate sound condition as the best matching for the environment. Furthermore, participants reported high levels of confidence and indicated that they could distinguish the different sound conditions to a high degree. Our study and findings are embedded into the cultural context of the indigenous people and architecture of Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Pōwhiri is a traditional welcoming ceremony in Māori culture in Aotearoa New Zealand. Certain protocols (tikanga) have to be followed and must be learned. There is a general lack of understanding regarding this due to the scarcity of pōwhiri. The immersive and experiential nature of Virtual Reality (VR) can be used as a tool to increase understanding and confidence. We have implemented a VR learning tool in the reconstructed context of Te Rau Aroha marae in Bluff which allows for safe practice of pōwhiri before applying it in a real welcoming ceremony. A cultural evaluation study was conducted first followed by a user study to determine understanding and confidence gains, highlighting the complexity of the topic. The user study clearly showed that the system was useful to increase participants’ understanding in regards to pōwhiri as well as their confidence surrounding pōwhiri. We are confident that our experiences and key findings from the studies can be used to drive further development of VR tools in the context of visualising cultural ceremonies.

Computer science and programming achievement standards for the three final years of high school were introduced in New Zealand in 2011. More than a decade after the introduction, the experiences of teachers who play a key role in the successful implementation have been largely overlooked. However, listening to teachers’ experiences with preparing, teaching and assessing these standards enables us to discover barriers and challenges, along with solutions suggested to overcome them. We conducted an online survey in 2021 and received responses from 91 teachers in New Zealand who have been involved with the new standards. Our analysis identified barriers and related challenges for both teachers and students, falling in to five main categories: standard content, resources, support, assessment, and student centered factors. In many cases these barriers hinder successful implementation and student participation. From the suggestions made we deduce actions which could be taken by schools as well as factors beyond the schools’ control to address these barriers. The survey showed that the majority of the teachers were not satisfied with the time available for upskilling, and the guidance available on marking assessments. Lack of support materials was also considered to be a pressing issue. The key suggestions that emerged were inclusion of more practical work instead of theory and writing, and more time for teachers to practise the subject. With this study we provide a subjective evaluation of the current situation in New Zealand suggesting some improvements for the future which we trust will be valuable to researchers in other countries undergoing similar implementations.

Developing, evaluating, and disseminating IT research prototypes for and with indigenous partners is both challenging and rewarding. In conjunction with our domain expert collaborators, Te Rau Aroha Marae (Bluff, Aotearoa/New Zealand) and our academic colleagues at the universities of Waikato and Canterbury, we are implementing a mixed reality telepresence system to connect a diasporic Māori community to their historical, cultural and geographic mātauranga (knowledge). In this article we describe our project, Ātea Presence, which is guided by the principles of partnership, participation, and protection. We describe the design and evaluation of the system developed, the collaborative process we undertook with Te Rau Aroha Marae and our Māori academic colleagues and report on lessons learned along the way.

Ten years ago new computer science and programming achievement standards were introduced to New Zealand's national curriculum for students in their final three years at high school. However, as recent research has shown, the goal of placing these subjects on a par with subjects such as Physics and Maths has not been met. Therefore it is timely to investigate why student participation and retention for computer science and programming standards remain low. In this article, we present results from an in-depth qualitative study of students' perspectives regarding computer science and programming achievement standards. We identify eight main themes which students report as directly influencing their participation and retention in these standards. For example the placement of these standards outside the core academic areas in the curriculum, issues with the content, the assessments, and support materials as well as the guidance provided by some schools were identified as major obstacles for participation.

Project-based learning (PJBL) with real world clients provides students with the skills and knowledge required by industry. Similar to asynchronous online learning environments, PJBL students typically work in self-directed teams at times and places of their choice. Thus, it is difficult for the educators to identify technical and emotional challenges that students experience—especially with large cohorts. To bridge the disconnect between educators and students in such learning situations and to be able to provide students with timely feedback and support, we have experimented with the use of an emotion detection tool to automatically recognise students’ emotional states and the issues that they might face. Our results show that the detected emotions moderately to strongly correlate with students’ issues as observed by the academic coordinators and also with students’ final marks. However, our explorations also highlighted ethical challenges when using emotion-aware learning analytics. This paper describes our experiences and discusses possible ways to address those challenges.

Although a rigorous computing curriculum equipped with computer science and computer programming achievement standards was introduced in high schools in New Zealand 10 years ago, fewer than 10% of students take these standards. That raises the questions of why the uptake is low, and what were the trends in recent years. Past studies of New Zealand’s computer science and programming standards have tended to concentrate on the nature of the standards, teachers’ reactions to standards, teaching materials and assessment methods. In this research, we analyse the introduction of the computing curriculum over the last decade in terms of student uptake in general, the uptake for different groups of students, students’ progression through these standards and number of schools offering these standards. After analysing the official, nationwide data we can provide the following major findings. First, student participation in all three levels of computer science and programming standards is very low throughout the period. Second, fewer than 50% of high schools offer any of these standards. Finally, large equity gaps remain in enrollment to high school computer science education by socio-economic status, ethnicity and gender.

Volumetric videos allow for a true three-dimensional experience where users can freely choose their viewing angles and be actually immersed in a video clip. High quality video productions are gaining attention and first volumetric video recordings are commercially provided at select places. Unfortunately, the production process is very time, labour, and technology-resource intensive, which requires specialist hardware, software, and production experts. A “youtube-like” production, distribution, and experience system would be desirable. Here we present an approach which allows for the creation and interactive replay of three-dimensional videoclips using a novel voxel-based platform—voxelvideos. We can show that our voxelvideos experienced in virtual and augmented reality are effective, enjoyable, and perceived as useful. We hope that our approach and findings will encourage researchers, media experts, and hobbyists to experiment with voxelvideos as a new form of affordable media production and experience.

Computer science and programming achievement standards were introduced as elective subjects in New Zealand's high schools 10 years ago, but still the uptake is very low. Fewer than 4% of students chose to take computer science and fewer than 10% took programming each year. This motivated us to explore students' reasons for not considering these subjects. Ten semi-structured interviews conducted with first year students who were enrolled in an introductory programming course resulted in eight main themes. Most important reasons for not taking the standards were a lack of guidance and the placement of those subjects outside the core academic subjects in the curriculum.

Academic course advice for computing students has changed and presents new challenges. It has become more complex due to an increasing number of specialised study pathways, and less personal as centralised enrolment systems have taken the place of academic advisors. To improve course advice practices for students in computing disciplines at our university, a series of interviews and an online questionnaire were conducted. We asked students where they seek information before and during their studies, what kind of information they value, and how confident they are with their study choices. We found that half of our students changed study subjects along the way and that students would like to have a higher-level view of career pathways to plan their studies. It was also highlighted that students value information provided by other students and that they prefer talking to academic staff members in person over online information. As a result of this study, we share recommendations on how to support students better when making decisions about their study subjects.

Over six years we developed our first-year programming course, delivered through scheduled lectures and assessed by practical tests and a final examination, into a mastery learning-oriented course. In this study we provide an in-depth view of how successive adjustments to the course resulted in changes in student behaviour impacting task completion, final grades and activity patterns. Data from this period involving over 1300 students is presented and augmented with student feedback. Our results show that the successive move to a fully-fledged mastery model resulted in an overall decreasing task completion with longer periods of inactivity. Interventions to increase student engagement with the course were only partly successful. In this paper we present a long-term study to highlight opportunities and challenges when shifting to a mastery learning model.

Abstract Volumetric video recordings of storytellers, when experienced in immersive virtual reality, can elicit a sense of copresence between the user and the storyteller. Combining a volumetric storyteller with an appropriate virtual environment presents a compelling experience that can convey the story with a depth that is hard to achieve with traditional forms of media. Volumetric video production remains difficult, time-consuming, and expensive, often excluding cultural groups who would benefit most. The difficulty is partly due to ever-increasing levels of visual detail in computer graphics, and resulting hardware and software requirements. A high level of detail is not a requirement for convincing immersive experiences, and by reducing the level of detail, experiences can be produced and delivered using readily available, nonspecialized equipment. By reducing computational requirements in this way, storytelling scenes can be created ad hoc and experienced immediately—this is what we are addressing with our approach. We present our portable real-time volumetric capture system, and our framework for using it to produce immersive storytelling experiences. The real-time capability of the system, and the low data rates resulting from lower levels of visual detail, allow us to stream volumetric video in real time to enrich experiences with embodiment (seeing oneself) and with copresence (seeing others). Our system has supported collaborative research with Māori partners with the aim of reconnecting the dispersed Māori population in Aotearoa, New Zealand to their ancestral land through immersive storytelling. We present our system in the context of this collaborative work.

In industry-focused projects, students feel overwhelmed by the fast-paced nature of the group projects and the involvement of actual industry clients. To be able to provide timely feedback and support in challenging learning situations, we have experimented with the use of an emotion detection tool, in our case the IBM Watson™ Tone Analyzer, to automatically recognize the students’ emotional states and the potential issues they might have during their projects. Preliminary results show that the objectively recognised emotional tones moderately to strongly correlate with students’ issues as observed by the academic coordinators and also with students’ final marks for the project work.

Project-based learning (PJBL) and studio-based learning (SBL) are alternative methods of learning characterised by aspects like collaboration, authenticity of problems, process-focus, student self-management, and continuous reflection. Those teaching approaches deviate significantly from traditional forms of teaching and learning, raising questions about applicability and effectiveness. We integrated industry-focused project work into a one-year postgraduate programme teaching non-IT graduates information and communication technology skills and knowledge. Over a period of three years with an increasing number of student enrolments and in close collaboration with industry partners we put elements of PJBL and SBL in action. As coordinators of this programme we are reflecting on our experiences and can show that in our context industry-focused project work is an effective form of learning. We hope that our observations and findings will inform and inspire other teachers and researchers to implement aspects of PJBL and SBL as overarching concepts in their learning contexts.

For mixed reality applications, where reality and virtual reality are spatially merged and aligned in interactive real-time, we propose a pure voxel representation as a rendering and interaction method of choice. We show that voxels\textemdash gap-less volumetric pixels in a regular grid in space\textemdash allow for an actual user experience of a mixed reality environment, for a seamless blending of virtual and real, and for a sense of presence and co-presence in such an environment. If everything is based on voxels, even if coarse, visual coherence is achieved inherently. We argue the case for voxels by (1) conceptually defining and illustrating voxel-based mixed reality, (2) describing the computational feasibility, (3) presenting a fully functioning, low resolution prototype, (4) empirically exploring the user experience, and finally (5) discussing current work and future directions for voxel-based mixed reality. This work is not the first that utilises voxels for mixed reality, but is the first that has an holistic view on voxel-based mixed realities as an effective way of experiencing and interacting with mixed reality environments.

We share our procedure, resources, and experiences in using pair teaching to deliver a first-year introductory web development course. We will describe how having two lecturers in the lecture theatre can provide more opportunities for live examples, coding demonstrations, discussions and in-lecture exercises leading to a varied delivery which was perceived as more engaging than a traditional lecture format. Furthermore, we argue that pair teaching supports professional development by facilitating self- and peer-review, sharing domain knowledge, as well as helping new lecturers to become familiar with an established lecture series. As a side effect, we discovered that teaching as a pair is a less isolating experience and much more fun.

Over the last five years we have developed our first year, first semester programming course into a mastery learning oriented course -- a delivery format allowing students to work at their own pace towards the achievement level they aim for. In this paper, we report on a series of changes to the course and how these impacted students' engagement, their learning progress and their final grades. We aim to initiate a discussion on fostering self-regulated learning early on in a course.