The design of an asynchronous web-based project review system to support studio-based learning in computing education

Learning computer science is no longer simply a matter of learning computer programming. Indeed, modern day computing jobs demand design, communication and collaborative skills as well. In order to address this need and make computing education more engaging, motivating, and community-oriented, we have been exploring a ldquostudio basedrdquo approach in which students (a) construct computational solutions to problems that have many possible solution strategies, and then (b) present their solutions to their peers and instructors for feedback and discussion. In the fall of 2007, we implemented this approach in a pre-CS1course by requiring students to present their solutions to five course programming projects in face-to-face review sessions. Interview and observational data collected in this course pointed out several practical and logistical problems surrounding the face-to-face review sessions that diminished their educational effectiveness. To address these problems, we describe the preliminary design of a novel asynchronous Web-based project review system to support and augment face-to-face studio-based review sessions.