Encouraging Student Innovation in a Freshman-Level Computer Science Course

In a world where the demand is high for employees who can think creatively and apply entrepreneurial behaviors and thought processes to their work, it is critically important for engineering and computer science programs to provide more educational opportunities that take the essential basics of the disciplines and add to that content the experiences that will also encourage the development of entrepreneurial behaviors in students' development of solutions to the challenges they face. In a second-semester project-based learning course in computer science at Baylor University, the students were introduced to an idea-generation technique called Painstorming chosen to encourage opportunity recognition, and asked to develop their own idea for a semester project. This paper will cover the success of project-based learning in engineering and computer science courses, show a method of idea generation called Painstorming, the application of Painstorming to software applications as a means to generate group project ideas, the adjustments necessary for the successful implementation of this approach in an already busy course, and the preliminary results of the experiment. An Introduction to Problem-Based Learning Problem-Based Learning is an “instructional (and curricular) learner-centered approach that empowers learners to conduct research, integrate theory, and practice, and apply knowledge and skills to develop a viable solution.”1 Figure 1 compares traditional learning to PBL. Instead of the traditional lecture, memorize, and test, PBL is more of a discovery knowledge process which results in application of this knowledge to solve problems. PBL is an opportunity for the instructor to be a “coach” and the student to take charge of their learning. With all the technology available today to access knowledge, using technology is increasingly becoming the desired method of learning. These days it is frequently possible to observe students who ask a question and then immediately seek the answer on their smart phones. Students seem empowered with knowledge, having the world at their fingertips. Now, students need to understand how to use this knowledge and PBL offers a way to shape how students learn and apply this knowledge to carefully crafted problems in the classroom. It is thought that PBL does the following2: 1. Develops critical thinking and creative skills. 2. Improves problem-solving skills. 3. Increases motivation. 4. Helps students learn to transfer knowledge to new situations. Critical thinking and creative skills refer “to the ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information, as well as, to apply that information to a given context.”3 This is the heart and soul of PBL. Figure 1 Traditional vs Problem-based Learning4 The Problem-based Learning Initiative (PBLI) identifies some generic essentials of PBL5: 1. Students must have the responsibility for their own learning 2. Problems must be ill-structured and allow for free inquiry. 3. Learning should cover a wide range of disciplines or subjects. 4. Collaboration is essential. 5. Self-directed learning must be applied back to the problem. 6. Closing analysis is essential to reinforce learned principles and concepts. 7. Self and peer assessment should be accomplished. 8. PBP activities must be valued in the “real” world. 9. Student examinations should measure PBL progress 10. PBL should be the basis for the entire curriculum not just one course. The last statement is part of the challenge that faces PBL. The majority of the large number of papers presented at ASEE conferences concerning PBL highlight application of PBL for a particular classroom scenario. Typically, PBL is placed into a course by a professor, assessed, and then refined. While the students in that course are exposed to PBL, unless it is part of the entire curriculum, the skills learned with PBL are not adequately reinforced. Very few curriculums are based solely on PBL. If curriculums were based more on PBL there would be improved critical thinking and problems solving by the students, skills valued by industry. Instructor Role in Problem-based Learning In PBL the instructor changes from the knowledge expert to one of a coach or guide. This puts the instructor in the often uncomfortable position of allowing students the freedom to plan their direction. Relinquishing this control is something instructors who use PBL struggle with the most.6 Another challenge for the instructor is to develop appropriate ill-structured problems. Stanford University uses the following guidelines for ill-structured problems7: 1. Require more information for understanding the problem than is initially available 2. Contain multiple solution paths 3. Change as new information is obtained 4. Prevent students from knowing that they have made the right decision. 5. Generate interest and controversy and cause the learner to ask questions. 6. Are open-ended and complex enough to require collaboration and thinking beyond recall. 7. Contain content that is authentic to the discipline. Assessing Problem-based Learning Because this is a much different learning strategy, traditional assessment tools are not always useful. Tools that measure knowledge do not measure abilities to solve problems. The assessment technique will ultimately depend on the problem/project and the instructor’s experience.6 Gentry lists the following as possible assessment techniques8: 1. Portfolio of completed assignments 2. Journal containing reflections, summaries, etc. 3. Peer review 4. Scoring rubric 5. Team self-evaluations 6. Teacher observation and monitoring 7. Periodic presentations and updates 8. Written reports 9. Skills tests 10. Tests or quizzes 11. Final presentations, papers, or displays Assessment needs to be flexible, fair and equitable, timely, and focused on the process rather than the topic.8 Application of Problem-Based Learning to an Intro to Computer Science Class In computer science, as in most disciplines, group projects introduced into the curriculum early, can help students develop a host of skills that are increasingly important in the professional world.9 A challenge, however, is in where and how to integrate the experience into the semester. In the introductory courses in computer science, the curriculum is full of necessary and essential topics – problem-solving, the basic structures of a program, the syntax and semantics of a programming language – making it difficult to find the time in lecture to include a group programming project. Our second introductory course (CS2), CSI 1440, “Introduction to Computer Science II with Laboratory,” provides an opportunity to take advantage of several of the benefits of problem-based learning, namely the tackling of larger tasks, demanding the power of an object-oriented programming paradigm.10 Our CS2 course picks up from the first introductory course (CS1) course, CSI 1430, “Introduction to Computer Science I with Laboratory,” where the basic syntax and semantics of C++ are taught, along with sequence, branch, loop, objects, classes, arrays, and searching and sorting. As such, we start with the basic tenants of dynamic memory allocation and then move into a deeper understanding of classes and object-oriented programming (string class, advanced file I/O, recursion, polymorphism, virtual functions, exceptions, templates, the standard template library (STL), linked lists, stacks, queues, and binary trees)11, and a group project provides an excellent environment to apply what is being learned to a problem requiring these design tools. Normally, the group project is determined for the class by the instructor, who plans the scope of the project, as well as the requirements of the project, in a way that best fits the constraints of the course and the learning objectives of the students. However, in the spring of 2015, a new approach was taken in the design and development of the group programming project, and this approach was tested in two of the six sections taught in spring of 2015 (30 of the 97 students enrolled in CSI 1440 during that semester). “Painstorming” as an Ideation Methodology In order to push the students’ understanding of the total software lifecycle of a project, we forced student teams to select their own software design project by introducing them to an idea generation technique known as “Painstorming,” as the front end of the design process. In so doing, the student had to develop a much higher-level understanding of the design challenge, along with the details required to execute the project in the fixed amount of time given. Instead of merely responding to the design criterion identified by an instructor, they had to evaluate the feasibility of various design changes based on the pains identified with an existing software application. In this way, they learned to practice some of the essentials of PBL mentioned earlier in this paper, including • taking responsibility for their own learning, • requiring collaboration among project team members from the beginning, • formative and summative individual and peer assessment, and • identifying new features of an existing software application by identifying the next pains or frustrations to be redesigned. Painstorming as a method of ideation has been used extensively in engineering design, as a means of detecting daily hardships that might be mitigated by innovation in design.12 It is the process of uncovering pain points to drive breakthrough innovation.13 Instead of jumping to solutions, Painstorming uncovers “pains” or irritations or frustrations in existing designs, providing an opportunity to redesign functionality to alleviate the source of pain. As an ideation methodology, it helps students to focus on a true pain/opportunity in the market place, increasing the likelihood of developing a high-value solution.14 Painstorming as an ideation methodology came out of the disadvantages of brainstorming: • The “right idea” ma