Learning from the Arts: Incorporating Classroom Critiques in a Computer Science Course

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Title

Communications in Computer and Information Science

Publication Date

1-1-2025

Abstract

In most computer science courses, students do not see other students’ code (if they have followed their course’s academic honesty polices), nor do they typically know their instructor’s assessment of work other than their own. This contrasts with instruction in the visual arts where students are regularly exposed to the work of other students, both finished and in progress, and often hear their instructor’s evaluation of other students’ work. Critical evaluation of one’s own work and that of others, and the development of that skill, is a significant component of most arts courses; however, computer science students typically do not receive such formal instruction or see examples that are not from the textbook or instructor in the context of the classroom. This work describes experiences in incorporating a commonly used teaching tool in the visual arts, the classroom or group critique, into an intermediate, university level computer science classroom. The primary goals of this approach are to develop students’ ability to critically evaluate code, both their own and code they may encounter, and to boost achievement on challenging programming assignments. Both successes and challenges encountered with this method are addressed.

Volume

2261 CCIS

First Page

407

Last Page

416

DOI

10.1007/978-3-031-85930-4_37

ISSN

18650929

E-ISSN

18650937

ISBN

[9783031859298]

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