Visiting Speaker: Leo Porter on the Basic Data Structures Inventory

Published: 30 May 2022

Dr Leo Porter describes the design process for his Concept Inventory for Basic Data Structures (BDSI) and shares practical information on its delivery and interpretation.

SPEAKER: Dr Leo Porter
DATE: Monday, 30th May 2022
TIME: 12:00-14:00
DESCRIPTION:
Session 1: 12:00-12:50 – BDSI: A Concept Inventory for Basic Data Structures with Evidence of Validity

A Concept Inventory (CI) is a validated assessment to measure student conceptual understanding of a particular topic. In this talk, I will present a CI for Basic Data Structures (BDSI) and the process by which the CI was designed and validated.  Included in this process was: gaining consensus from a number of faculty at diverse institutions on what belongs on the instrument, conducting interviews with students to identify their conceptions and misconceptions of the content, development and refinement of the CI questions using both qualitative and quantitative methods, and a statistical evaluation of final versions of the instrument to ensure its internal validity.  Lastly, I will go over how one might apply a similar process to develop similar instruments for other computer science classes.

Session 2: 13:10-14:00 – Using an Interpreting the Basic Data Structures Inventory (BDSI)
For faculty interested in using the BDSI either for teaching or research purposes, this talk will discuss how to administer the assessment including tips to ensure that the process is valuable for instructors and students alike.  In addition, I will run an activity with audience participation to present the results from having used the instrument at a collection of diverse institutions to help instructors and researchers interpret their own findings.


First published: 30 May 2022