Oral exams provide a compelling alternative to traditional evaluation methods, expanding or replacing traditional written work. Interest in oral exams is growing rapidly in computer science (CS) education due to shifts to remote learning and concerns around AI-supported programming. This Birds of a Feather (BoF) session is broadly applicable to many in the CS education community, whether they have previously tried oral exams, have concerns about the use of oral exams in CS education, or are curious to hear more about how oral exams might work. The BoF session will provide a forum to discover and discuss previous approaches to oral exams, dive into common themes of interest in small groups, and collectively identify promising future directions for oral exams in CS courses.

Evidence supports offering research experiences for undergraduate computing science students as a means of broadening participation in computing [7, 10, 11]. However, student perceptions about computing science research, how students become interested in these research experiences, and the details of effective design and delivery of programs capable of attracting and retaining this interest are less explored. In this study, we investigate the design and delivery of undergraduate research programs. We expand on and explore several factors, including but not limited to cultural relevance, the presence of a cross-disciplinary high-level view, task assignment, entry point, and support elements of a program.

The dominance of the English language in computer science across programming languages, documentation, instruction, and scientific publication is well recognized. This situation contrasts with the actual distribution of spoken languages in the world, where only approximately 5% of the population of the world are native English speakers and a further 15% are non-native English speakers (NNES). For NNES students learning programming or computing in universities, the dominance of the English language can present a challenge. This challenge can manifest in multiple forms such as keywords, technical documentation, tutorials, or even descriptive terminology that may only exist in English. This situation impacts international students in English-speaking countries, those studying in regions where English is the medium of instruction, and it also affects students in non-English-speaking countries who do not study in English. In all of these cases, students may have to deal with computer terminologies or other documentation that have no direct translations in their language. This working group aims to systematically investigate the extent that the English language presents a barrier to non-native English speakers in computing education, specifically, in introductory programming courses delivered entirely in English to populations of non-native English speakers. This multi-prong effort is based on the existing literature, instructor observations, student experiences, and popular introductory programming textbooks. The diverse nationalities and localities of the working group members primes our work for varied perspectives on the topic.

Undergraduate computer science programs worldwide struggle to attract and retain underrepresented students for many reasons. Culture, stereotype threats, uneven gender and racial representations, lack of role models, and uncertain career prospects for minority groups are among the many reasons behind this situation. Many computer science programs are trying to change course through strategies to foster equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), aimed at improving outreach, recruitment, admissions, and retention of underrepresented students. EDI approaches may also include modifications to the undergraduate computer science curriculum. However, if not properly planned, these modifications risk amplifying existing stereotypes rather than producing positive change [38]. In this study, through an extensive literature review, a rigorous curriculum analysis of 49 computer science programs across the globe, and qualitative and quantitative analysis of surveys and interviews bringing in the voices of 613 students and 30 educators participating from around the world, we explore equity, diversity, and inclusion in the computer science curriculum. We highlight the role of inclusive content and course design, discuss program flexibility, and the impact of inclusive courses and program design in attracting and retaining historically marginalized students. Finally, we provide concrete steps to make computing science undergraduate curricula more appealing to a diverse audience.

This paper provides the details of a poster that will be presented in the National Science Foundation (NSF) Grantees Poster Session at the 2021 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition. The poster will report the status of an NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (S-STEM) project. The objectives of this project are 1) enhancing students' learning by providing access to extra and co-curricular experiences, 2) creating a positive student experience through mentorship, and 3) ensuring successful student placement in the STEM workforce, graduate, or professional school. The students who are supported by this project receive financial and educational assistance through various evidence-based modules integrated with their undergraduate education starting with the summer prior to matriculation. The students supported by this grant were recruited through one of the two project cohorts. The paper describes features such as demographics, high school GPA, and ACT/SAT scores of the participating students. The paper provides information about the completed and ongoing tasks of the project to date. The completed tasks include the development and evaluation of a summer bridge program and a freshman engineering success course. The ongoing tasks consist of the design and implementation of a service learning project course, and the design and implementation of an industry mentorship program. The paper also describes the modifications made to project tasks and resources to minimize the adverse impact of COVID-19 on the scholars. Moreover, the paper reports detailed assessment and evaluation data about the completed project tasks, and the academic success metrics of the scholars.

One of the less explored approaches to foster equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in Computer Science (CS) is through changes to the curriculum. Despite sporadic work on the adoption of Culturally Responsive Computing (CRC) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL), the inclusion of equity-minded courses, or modifications on specific elements of the curriculum such as introductory programming courses, there has never been a wide exploration or adoption of a successful equity-minded undergraduate CS curriculum. In this work, we explore undergraduate CS curricula, with a special focus on upper division, lower division, and service courses (courses offered to non-CS students). For each group, we examine the design and adoption of successful equity-minded approaches, exploring fair access, motivation, engagement, and rigour.

A brief social-belonging intervention was implemented in an upper level computer science (CS) course. This intervention uses storytelling to help improve a sense of belonging and establish the importance of persistence in the classroom. In previous experiments using this one-time intervention, there were significant results (Walton; Brady, 2017). Recent CS graduates were interviewed about their own struggles and failures in their computer science courses. These interviews were videotaped and edited to follow the storytelling pattern of a struggle, followed by an attribution, and concluding with redemption. Interviewees were selected to represent a diverse group of students including both dominant majority and under-represented minority populations. There were two groups of students, the first group took a systems course without seeing the storytelling videos and second group took a systems course where the storytelling videos were featured. There were approximately 390 computer science students enrolled over both semesters. Survey data was received from approximately 212 students which measured student's perception of their own belonging to the field of CS. Additionally, students were asked to respond to mock scenarios, gathering data on their attitudes and beliefs on how much other students belong in CS. Results are presented that describe how the control and intervention groups responded to the questions about their own sense of belong, as well as their opinion about who belongs in CS.

Oral exams were implemented in two different introductory computer science classes at a public research minority-serving university. The use of oral exams is motivated by two factors: (1) large CS enrollments; (2) remote learning. Due to the increase in CS enrollments, the CS course experience is at greater risk of impersonality with students lacking a sense of belonging. In some cases, students can go throughout an entire course with little interaction with other students or the instructor. Similarly, with the increase in remote learning due to the pandemic, especially in courses with large enrollments, students are lacking synchronous connections. An added issue with large enrollments and remote learning is the difficulty of controlling and managing academic misconduct. The three research questions of this study are (1) to determine if oral exams can provide a way to connect with students one-on-one; (2) to determine if oral exams keep students accountable on the course material and improve their learning; and (3) to determine if oral exams are stressful for students. In this study, we implement oral exams in two different courses taught by two different instructors. Students were surveyed at the end of the term to answer the research questions. For research question 1, teaching staff met with students one-on-one three times throughout the semester for enrollments ranging from 75-275 students to complete the oral exams. For research question 2, students reported that oral exams improved their understanding of the material and the oral exams encouraged them to do more independent work throughout the semester. For research question 3, students reported that oral exams were very stressful prior to taking the first one, but did not find subsequent oral exams stressful.

This experience report presents results from a quasi-experiment comparing course performance and student-reported survey constructs between two groups of students. One group took a Data Structures course with traditional, in-person modality. The second group took the same course with flexible, online modality. The work was motivated by the rapid adjustments computer science instructors made due to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a response to these forced changes, this study was set up to investigate the differences between pre- and post- pandemic modalities. There are 212 students in the study, which took place in Fall 2021 at an R1, minority serving institution in the Midwestern United States. The study found that students in both groups performed similarly on common course components like projects, labs, homework, and a final Data Structures assessment. There were not significant differences in their self-reported ease of learning, enjoyment, belongingness, attitude, mindset, and self-efficacy. However, when taking into consideration gender, we found that women's performance was lower than men's in the traditional modality course. Women's performance in the flexible modality course was on par with men. Lastly, we present some feedback from students relating to assessments and modality.

The present paper reports an update on an NSF-funded S-STEM program currently in its last year at the University of Illinois Chicago. Lessons learned during the project implementation are also listed in the paper. A summary of the paper materials will be presented at the ASEE 2023 Annual Conference and Exposition as part of the NSF Grantees Poster Session. The project's objectives are 1) enhancing students' learning by providing access to extra and co-curricular experiences, 2) creating a positive student experience through mentorship, and 3) ensuring successful student placement in the STEM workforce or graduate/professional degree program. As part of this project, students are provided with financial assistance. A total of three Cohorts of students are supported by the project: Engineering students who started as freshmen, including 18 students of Cohort I and 13 students of Cohort II, and 19 students who transferred from various community colleges to Cohort III. More than 60% of the students are classified as minorities. This project has resulted in the creation of several support and intervention programs, including a Summer Bridge Program, an Engineering Success Initiative course, a Service Learning Project course, and an integrated mentoring program that matches each student with an academic mentor (a faculty) and an industry mentor. The paper will summarize the lessons learned from the support programs. Out of the 18 students recruited by this program as Cohort I, all have already graduated, and 16 have started a job. Cohort II students will graduate next semester (Spring 2023), and the majority of students in Cohort III students will graduate in Spring 2023. Two students dropped out of the university in their first year, and one dropped out of the university in the second year. More information is provided in this paper regarding student retention and performance (Grade Point Average).

This tip, technique, and courseware proposal is presenting the details the design of a problem solving competition. This is a competition concept that can be used in place of or to prepare for a traditional hackathon. This style of competition is more friendly to first and second year students, less competitive, less of a time commitment, and more collaborative. Two different competition formats are presented. The first is called "Problem Solving Speed Dating", which works by pairing upperclassmen and underclassmen in a speed dating type exercise. The second is called "Unwrapped Collaborative Problem Solving", where students work on a team but with very specific (and intentionally restrictive) roles. Both competition formats were tested in five different workshops over the course of several years involving around 250 undergraduate students. Students reporting receiving similar benefits to a hackathon including: problem solving skills, teamwork, building community, and networking with industry.

An oral exam is an assessment approach involving verbal explanations of key concepts or thought process to achieve a solution to a problem, sometimes accompanied by written or typed work. As a complement or refreshing alternative to standard written assessments, oral exams are being implemented in CS courses in a variety of formats. This Birds of a Feather (BoF) session will bring together the growing community of CS educators who have previously used oral exams and those interested in alternative assessment approaches to share ideas and discuss best practices. The discussion leaders represent a wide range of institutions and have varied previous expertise in the design, implementation, and study of oral exams in CS courses. The BoF session will involve (1) introduction to oral exams and previous approaches led by the discussion leaders, (2) small group discussions based on shared interests or concerns with oral exams, and (3) discussion of best practices for oral exams in CS courses.

Oral proficiency exams implemented in introductory programming courses at a public, research, minority-serving university provide a way to connect with students one-on-one, keep students accountable on the course material to improve their learning, and help improve feelings of belongingness in the learning environment. This study analyzes data disaggregated based on majority and underrepresented demographic groups by gender, race/ethnicity, and parental education level, to investigate the following three research themes across all groups: (1) to determine the impact of the oral exams on student motivation for independent learning; (2) to compare student stress levels related to the oral exams; and (3) to compare belongingness and final course performance. Student survey data was collected and analyzed following the oral exam intervention. For research theme (1), students across nearly all demographic groups reported that oral exams improved their understanding of the material and encouraged them to do more independent work. For research theme (2), students in some underrepresented groups reported higher stress levels than their majority group peers, and all groups reported a reduction in stress level after completing the oral exam. For research theme (3), students in some underrepresented groups reported lower sense of belonging and had lower final course performance than their majority group peers.

A workshop was designed and run to motivate and inspire female undergraduate students studying computer science (CS) to explore careers in research. Key activities include peer mentoring, alumni mentoring, graduate student mentoring, faculty mentoring, problem solving skill building (through collaborative competitions), hands-on work, and session topics about graduate school and research careers. The evaluation criteria for the workshop include building community, improving skills, instilling confidence, and motivation and inspiration. The workshop was attended by a total of 74 participants, all of whom were undergraduate women pursuing degrees in computer science (and related fields). This poster will present the design of the workshop, which was unique in that it included problem solving activities in addition to exploration of careers in CS research. Quantitative and qualitative data collected before and after the workshop will be presented in the poster, but are not described in the extended abstract due to length restrictions.

As the enrollment in computer science courses increases, faculty face the challenge of maintaining a standard of academic integrity in out of class programming assignments. One strategy to combat academic misconduct, is to incorporate more frequent in-class assessment. Traditional in-class assessment is often perceived as passive and taking away from valuable class time. Also, more in-class assessment could mean increasing the amount of test anxiety. Therefore, this paper presents results from a study that investigated the effectiveness of active, in-class programming assessment. The study was conducted in an introductory programming course with 93 undergraduate students at a mid-size, public university in the western United States. Three different assessment types were tested: collaborative, cooperative, and individual type assessments. A collaborative assessment is equivalent to pair programming. Cooperative assessments are partner quizzes where students must write their own code and are assessed individually, but may collaborative as much or as little as they like with their partner. Student performance was measured under multiple conditions including type of assessment and partner's active learning preference and factors like GPA, time in the semester, and section were controlled for. The results show that students perform better on both collaborative and cooperative type assessment than they do on individual type assessments. Also, the results show that students perform similarly on collaborative and cooperative assessments, which provides a nice alternative to pair programming for educators. Lastly, results show that most students prefer collaborative assessments over cooperative or individual. The majority of students prefer partner assessment to individual assessment.

Overflows in the ocean occur when dense water flows down a continental slope into less dense ambient water.It is important to study idealized and small-scale models, which allow for confidence and control of parameters.The work presented here is a direct qualitative and quantitative comparison between physical laboratory experiments and lab-scale numerical simulations.Physical parameters are varied, including the Coriolis parameter, the inflow density, and the inflow volumetric flow rate.Laboratory experiments are conducted using a rotating square tank and high-resolution camera mounted on the table in the rotating reference frame.Video results are digitized in order to compare directly to numerical simulations.The MIT General Circulation Model (MITgcm), a three-dimensional ocean model, is used for the direct numerical simulations corresponding to the specific laboratory experiments.It was found that the MITgcm was not a good match to laboratory experiments when physical parameters fell within the high eddy activity regime.However, a more extensive resolution study is needed to understand this fully.The MITgcm simulations did provide a good qualitative and quantitative match to laboratory experiments run in a low eddy activity regime.In all cases, the MITgcm simulations had more eddy activity than the laboratory experiments.