1. The Effective Use of Quicksort Visualizations in the Classroom Scott Grissom, Grand Valley State University Tom Naps, University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh

2. The Effective Use of Quicksort Visualizations in the Classroom Scott Grissom, Grand Valley State University Tom Naps, University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh

3. The Effective Use of Visualizations to Enhance Learning Scott Grissom, Grand Valley State University Tom Naps, University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh

4. Overview ITiCSE 2000 Survey Results ITiCSE 2002 Working Group A Few Demos Results Plans for the Future

5. 2000 Survey Results 91 responses, 21 countries 92% use static visualizations at least weekly 33% use dynamic visualizations at least weekly Many faculty noted the amount of time required to use visualizations

6. Working Group Findings Six Levels of Enagement none passive viewing active responses manipulation constructing presenting

7. A Few Demos

8. Winter 2001 Study Two sections studied Quicksort on their own outside of class using the JHAVE visualization framework Extended Use group used the tool throughout the semester including an online quiz about Quicksort Limited Use group used the tool only to study quicksort

9. Dependent Variables final exam questions How well did the tool help you learn? poor (1) - excellent (5) Describe your experience using the tool very difficult (1) - very easy (5)

10. Extended Use Students scored higher on the final exam questions (17.2 vs 9.6) rated the learning effectiveness higher (3.9 vs 2.1) rated the usability higher (3.7 vs 2.3)

11. Therefore…. Students receive more benefits from a visualization after spending more time with it.

12. Winter 2002 We compared None, Passive Viewing and Active Response. Active Response group showed significant improvement in a post-test compared to the None group

13. Fall 2002 We are comparing Manipulation with Manipulation / Constructing

14. Conclusions Simply showing a passive visualization in lecture may not be very effective Integrate the tool into the course to be more effective Encourage students to use the tool on a regular and meaningful basis

15. What’s Next? NSF CCLI - EMD grant Continue empirical studies Focus on ‘how’ to use visualizations Develop ‘plug and play’ resources printed study guides interactive visualizations online quiz facilities