Separating Formal and Natural Language in Computing Science Education and in assessment of it (2014)
Published: 20 February 2021
UGEAN member Peter Donaldson conducted the analysis of previous Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) Computing examination papers that illustrated significant variations in keywords and ambiguities in the provided code examples.
UGEAN member Peter Donaldson conducted the analysis of previous Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) Computing examination papers that illustrated significant variations in keywords and ambiguities in the provided code examples.
This work helped to convince the SQA to change its approach: all question setters are now required to use the SQA reference language for setting software development questions involving code comprehension.
The project is reported in Cutts, Q., Conner, R., Donaldson, P. and Michaelson, G. (2014). Code or (not Code) – Separating Formal and Natural Language in CS Education, WiPSCE14.
Information drawn from this work on the reference language and how it should, and should not, be used in the teaching of Computing Science courses was incorporated in the Professional Learning and Networking for Computing (PLAN C) project for teachers in 28 of the 32 local authorities in Scotland.
First published: 20 February 2021