CS4042 / CS4032 – Directed Study 28/01/2009 Digital Media Design Music and Performance Technology Jim Buckley Directed Study (CS4042 – CS4032)

CS4042 / CS4032 – Directed Study 28/01/2009 Context Lecture 1 (in lab and HSG-37): –Administration of Module: Assessment, timetable, the help available; –Seeing the importance we place on ‘why’, and thus research: Find relevant material; Understanding this material as a whole; Being able to reason about it; Being able to present on it; Lecture 2: –How to find different information sources in our library; Books, theses, journals, conferences; –How to rate them; –How to determine how established they are;

CS4042 / CS4032 – Directed Study 28/01/2009 Your Research Project At this stage, you should: –Have registered your team and topic; –Have one article / chapter / book; For next week: –Be identifying core sub-topics; –Have assigned subtopics to students 1 each. –Have an article on your sub-topic summarized; –Continuing work: Find other trusted papers / books (*3 for each sub-category); Remember to keep trying to place them in the context of the overall summary, possibly provided by the textbooks; Bring your progress to lab session for marks? Remember: –You are not the finished product – We’re expecting good attempts only; –The marking of your progress will reflect this;

CS4042 / CS4032 – Directed Study 28/01/2009 Lecture 3: Reading At the end of this module, you should be able to: Read a report / article; Understand what you have read; Summarise the main points; Analyse what is presented; Collate with other articles; Use the information you have found to do further searches; These are the topics of this lecture. You have had experience on finding the articles (both lecture and practical) and reading one this week;

CS4042 / CS4032 – Directed Study 28/01/2009 Summaries Vickers paper: What do you remember

CS4042 / CS4032 – Directed Study What I Remember Doe sit help find more bugs? –Yes Does the auralization speed up bug finding? –No Is there increased perceived effort? –Yes Is musical experience necessary? –They say no, but really poorly measured Issue: –Scalability; 28/01/2009

CS4042 / CS4032 – Directed Study 28/01/2009 The importance of Summarizing Scenario: –Say I take a book / paper and photocopy it…. –Say I take a book and read it… –What is the difference in the state of my mind after either of these things; Summarizing means you haven’t just cut and paste it, haven’t just read it, but you have gone further still and have understood it to some degree. Academic papers help by providing a summary

CS4042 / CS4032 – Directed Study Structured Abstracts Background: Our research group is developing and documenting procedures for undertaking systematic literature reviews (SLRs) within the software engineering domain. A question that has arisen is whether the procedures are suitable for use by students over a relatively short period of time. A further question is related to the effectiveness of pair programming for undergraduate students. Aims: The aims of this research are twofold: to investigate the applicability of the SLR process within the constraints of a 13-week master’s level project and to aggregate evidence about the effectiveness of pair programming for teaching introductory programming. Methodology: To address the first aim a case study approach was taken with a single student applying the SLR methodology under the supervision of an expert reviewer (and member of academic staff). The process was adapted to fit the time available. For the second aim, a modified SLR method was used, based around an analysis of a random sample of the included studies. Results: The case study found that, with certain modifications to the process, it was possible to undertake an SLR within a limited time period and to produce valid results. As a novice researcher was undertaking the process, it was found that training was required in certain aspects in order to effectively undertake the review. In particular, the distinction between conference and journal publications and the relationship between publications and studies were sometimes unclear to the student. In terms of the results of the SLR, 28 publications reporting empirical studies of pair programming were selected for inclusion, of which nine publications were used for data extraction and analysis. The preliminary evidence from the review suggests that pair programming can have a positive impact on pass and retention rates as well as the students’ confidence and enjoyment of programming. However, the evidence also indicates that pair programming does not have a significant effect on the marks obtained for examinations and assignments. Conclusions: The preliminary results are positive, both for the use of pair programming in introductory undergraduate programming courses and for the use of the SLR process for master’s level project students. The evidence from the SLR is that pair programming can significantly improve the success and retention rates on programming modules, as well as student’s confidence in their work. In terms of the process, this study has demonstrated that it is possible for a student to follow guidelines for conducting SLRs and, with only minor modifications, deliver a valuable project report. 28/01/2009 Background: Our research group is developing and documenting procedures for undertaking systematic literature reviews (SLRs) within the software engineering domain. A question that has arisen is whether the procedures are suitable for use by students over a relatively short period of time. A further question is related to the effectiveness of pair programming for undergraduate students. Aims: The aims of this research are twofold: to investigate the applicability of the SLR process within the constraints of a 13- week master’s level project and to aggregate evidence about the effectiveness of pair programming for teaching introductory programming. Methodology: To address the first aim a case study approach was taken with a single student applying the SLR methodology under the supervision of an expert reviewer (and member of academic staff). The process was adapted to fit the time available. For the second aim, a modified SLR method was used, based around an analysis of a random sample of the included studies. Results: The case study found that, with certain modifications to the process, it was possible to undertake an SLR within a limited time period and to produce valid results. As a novice researcher was undertaking the process, it was found that training was required in certain aspects in order to effectively undertake the review. In particular, the distinction between conference and journal publications and the relationship between publications and studies were sometimes unclear to the student. In terms of the results of the SLR, 28 publications reporting empirical studies of pair programming were selected for inclusion, of which nine publications were used for data extraction and analysis. The preliminary evidence from the review suggests that pair programming can have a positive impact on pass and retention rates as well as the students’ confidence and enjoyment of programming. However, the evidence also indicates that pair programming does not have a significant effect on the marks obtained for examinations and assignments. Conclusions: The preliminary results are positive, both for the use of pair programming in introductory undergraduate programming courses and for the use of the SLR process for master’s level project students. The evidence from the SLR is that pair programming can significantly improve the success and retention rates on programming modules, as well as student’s confidence in their work. In terms of the process, this study has demonstrated that it is possible for a student to follow guidelines for conducting SLRs and, with only minor modifications, deliver a valuable project report.

CS4042 / CS4032 – Directed Study Active (agenda-ized) reading What would you like to know about an: –Instrument? –Interaction Device? 28/01/2009

CS4042 / CS4032 – Directed Study 28/01/2009 Possible Agenda Do you know what information you want? MMPT eg: –Description of instrument, machine, technique; –Underpinning technology; –Inventor; –What it looks like; –Use of instrument, technique; –Influences of instrument, technique; DMD eg: –Description of ‘interaction’ device –Underpinning technology –Inventor; –What it looks like; –Context of use; What would you want to know about X; What interests you about X –Not necessarily the same thing, so sometimes a compromise must be reached;

CS4042 / CS4032 – Directed Study 28/01/2009 Pragmatics Structure (and roles) of Academic Articles: –Abstract: Paper on a postcard. –Introduction: Overview of the area, Why this work is important. Research Question /Target. –Literature review: Detailed description of the rest of the work that has been done in this area. Basis/Context for this work. –The work they did and what they found –Conclusion: Summarizing the paper as a whole (contributions and scope)

CS4042 / CS4032 – Directed Study 28/01/2009 Analysing The questions you need to ask yourself as you read an article: –Is it relevant? –What are the main points in what you read? –What are the main points you are interested in? –Are the claims credible? –What aren’t they saying? –What have you enough information about at this stage? Relevance; Enough information; –What do you need more information about? –How will you get that information?

CS4042 / CS4032 – Directed Study 28/01/2009 Collating The art of taking different sources of information and binding them together into a whole: –Do they fit together easily? –Are there gaps? –Do writers use different terms to mean the same thing? –Have you too much information on any one topic? –Have you too little information on any one topic? Not necessarily an easy task: –Different terms; –Different perspectives;

CS4042 / CS4032 – Directed Study 28/01/2009

CS4042 / CS4032 – Directed Study 28/01/2009

CS4042 / CS4032 – Directed Study 28/01/2009 Summary Summary: –Reading and summarising is not easy –It comes with practice and experience –You need to go past this to aggregating and analysing –Important that at this stage you learn what is right and what is wrong in academic writing –You will need these skills throughout your study in UL