Jomon Palakudy
3035592P@student.gla.ac.uk
Research title: Designing Assessment and Pedagogical Frameworks for Awarding Qualifications
Research Summary
The use of GenAI in computer programming has made skills like problem decomposition, code specification, code reading, and code testing more important than they were in the past, while diminishing the importance of skills like knowing library semantics and syntax. This research aims to create an assessment rubric to evaluate these skills.
The Function Design Cycle involves using a top-down approach to decompose problems, writing prompts to generate code, reading and understanding the generated code, applying Test Driven Development (TDD) to test and debug the code using pre-written tests, and then decomposing further by breaking the function into multiple smaller functions. This process ensures clarity about what the code should and should not do. Thinking about testing before writing code can help decompose problems and write better prompts. It also acknowledges that GenAI can make mistakes, which should be identified and corrected through testing before use.
A process-oriented assesment method uses data captured during program development and transforms it into meaningful information to assess students' understanding of the programming concepts employed. My research focuses on developing and evaluating a process-oriented method of assessment that captures students’ intermediate work and uses a suitable metric to measure their learning progress. This should provide a foundation for developing pedagogies that can be used in classrooms to teach, learn, and assess GenAI-assisted computer programming. The study will offer a theoretical framework for assessing the skills K-12 students need to develop computer programs using GenAI, along with practical tools that can be implemented by Qualification Authorities, ultimately benefiting educators, students, and teachers.
Supervisors
Teaching
Secondary School Computing Science Teacher since 2019.
