The PPSE team is investigating the following topics towards achieving the project goals:

ISPeL

We are developing an Interactive System for Personalized Learning (ISPeL). ISPeL is an analytics-driven web application. Central to ISPeL is topic-based authoring, which involves first identifying topics. Topics are small, self-contained, reusable, and context-free content units. Learners may study a topic subject to its prerequisite dependencies. Pre- and post-tests are associated with each topic. Furthermore, topics feature several practice problems to enhance student learning. Topics can be aggregated to form higher-level learning units. ISPeL system keeps track of individual learner’s progress and performance on pre- and post-tests associated with the topics. Learner progress and performance dashboards make it easy to assess learning.

In summary, the ISPeL System features include:

Personalized Learning

Our Interactive System for Personalized Learning (ISPeL) enables personalization of learning via a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG). Topics comprise the vertices of DAG and prerequisite dependencies between the topics correspond to the edges. Personalization of learning is achieved by enabling the learners traverse the DAG in any order, which is constrained only by their prerequisite requirements.

Professional Skills Development

For computing professionals, professional skills are as important as the technical skills. Our research in this direction involves identifying and defining professional skills, developing personalizable teaching and learning content, and assessing their effectiveness. Our work encompasses the following professional skills: oral and written communication skills, effectively functioning in team environments, project management and leadership, life-long learning engagement, innovation and entrepreneurship, contemporary issues and global citizenship.

Automatic Question Generation

For computing professionals, professional skills are as important as the technical skills. Our research in this direction involves identifying and defining professional skills, developing personalizable teaching and learning content, and assessing their effectiveness. Our work encompasses the following professional skills: oral and written communication skills, effectively functioning in team environments, project management and leadership, life-long learning engagement, innovation and entrepreneurship, contemporary issues and global citizenship.

Ontology Construction

Central to our Interactive System for Personalized Learning (ISPeL) is the identification of topics and prerequisite dependencies among them. Manual identification of topics and their prerequisite dependencies requires significant domain expertise. This task is also labor-intensive. In this direction, the question we are investigating is: Is it possible to automatically generate topics and their prerequisite dependencies? If so, how? To help us in this task, we are examining the ontology construction research literature.

Inclusive and Innovative Pedogagy

One way to improve retention and graduation rates in computing academic programs to employ inclusive and innovative pedagogy. Inclusive pedagogy refers to classroom instruction that pays attention to diverse backgrounds, learning preferences, and abilities of all learners. Effectively leveraging advances in learning sciences and instructional technologies is referred to as innovative pedagogy. It is also shown that inclusive and innovative pedagogy contributes to attracting underrepresented groups into computing majors and academic success. We are investigating various issues related to inclusive and innovative pedagogy.

Non-course-centric Curriculum

Generally, computing course structures are rigid and are driven by the sole consideration that all graduates must acquire certain knowledge, regardless of whether the knowledge is cohesive and connected. A better way to look at courses is that a specific sequence of courses enable students to achieve a targeted set of technical and professional skills. Student learning diminishes when they do not see the relevance of courses to their professional goals.

We are investigating two aspects of non-course-centric curriculum: composing a course on the fly through interactive exploration of the Directed Acyclic Graph of the topic universe, and collaboratively designing course sequences to impart a cohesive set of targeted technical knowledge and professional skills to students.

Student Recruitment and Retention

Recruiting Underrepresented Groups

Content in progress…