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Publications

Publications by José Carlos Paiva

2023

FGPE+: The Mobile FGPE Environment and the Pareto-Optimized Gamified Programming Exercise Selection Model-An Empirical Evaluation

Authors
Maskeliunas, R; Damasevicius, R; Blazauskas, T; Swacha, J; Queiros, R; Paiva, JC;

Publication
COMPUTERS

Abstract
This paper is poised to inform educators, policy makers and software developers about the untapped potential of PWAs in creating engaging, effective, and personalized learning experiences in the field of programming education. We aim to address a significant gap in the current understanding of the potential advantages and underutilisation of Progressive Web Applications (PWAs) within the education sector, specifically for programming education. Despite the evident lack of recognition of PWAs in this arena, we present an innovative approach through the Framework for Gamification in Programming Education (FGPE). This framework takes advantage of the ubiquity and ease of use of PWAs, integrating it with a Pareto optimized gamified programming exercise selection model ensuring personalized adaptive learning experiences by dynamically adjusting the complexity, content, and feedback of gamified exercises in response to the learners' ongoing progress and performance. This study examines the mobile user experience of the FGPE PLE in different countries, namely Poland and Lithuania, providing novel insights into its applicability and efficiency. Our results demonstrate that combining advanced adaptive algorithms with the convenience of mobile technology has the potential to revolutionize programming education. The FGPE+ course group outperformed the Moodle group in terms of the average perceived knowledge (M = 4.11, SD = 0.51).

2023

GATUGU: Six Perspectives of Evaluation of Gamified Systems

Authors
Swacha, J; Queiros, R; Paiva, JC;

Publication
INFORMATION

Abstract
As gamification spreads to new areas, new applications are being developed and the interest in evaluating gamified systems continues to grow. To date, however, no one has comprehensively approached this topic: multiple evaluation dimensions and measures have been proposed and applied without any effort to organize them into a full gamut of tools for the multi-dimensional evaluation of gamified systems. This paper addresses this gap by proposing GATUGU, a set of six perspectives of evaluation of gamified systems: General effects of gamification, Area-specific effects of gamification, Technical quality of gamified systems, Use of gamified systems, Gamefulness of gamified systems, and User experience of gamified systems. For each perspective, GATUGU indicates the relevant dimensions of evaluation, and, for each dimension, one measure is suggested. GATUGU does not introduce any new measurement tools but merely recommends one of the available tools for each dimension, considering their popularity and ease of use. GATUGU can guide researchers in selecting gamification system evaluation perspectives and dimensions and in finding adequate measurement tools. Thanks to conforming to GATUGU, the published gamification system evaluation results will become easier to compare and to perform various kinds of meta-analyses on them.

2022

Automated Assessment in Computer Science: A Bibliometric Analysis of the Literature

Authors
Paiva, JC; Figueira, A; Leal, JP;

Publication
Learning Technologies and Systems - 21st International Conference on Web-Based Learning, ICWL 2022, and 7th International Symposium on Emerging Technologies for Education, SETE 2022, Tenerife, Spain, November 21-23, 2022, Revised Selected Papers

Abstract

2023

Sifu Reloaded: An Open-Source Gamified Web-Based CyberSecurity Awareness Platform (Short Paper)

Authors
Paiva, JC; Queirós, R; Gasiba, T;

Publication
4th International Computer Programming Education Conference, ICPEC 2023, June 26-28, 2023, Vila do Conde, Portugal

Abstract
Malicious actors can cause severe damage by exploiting software vulnerabilities. In industrial settings, where critical infrastructures rely on software, handling these vulnerabilities with utmost care is crucial to prevent catastrophic consequences. For this purpose, a cybersecurity awareness platform called Sifu was created. This platform automatically assesses challenges to verify its compliance to secure coding guidelines. Using an artificial intelligence method, an interactive component provides players with solution-guiding hints. This paper presents an improved version of the Sifu platform, which evolves the tool in the following aspects: architecture, data model and user interface. The new platform separates the server and client-side using a REST API architecture. It also accommodates an intrinsic and richer layer of gamification, which explores the concept of game rooms at an organizational and gamification level. Finally, it offers an improved interactive training experience for individuals and organizations through a responsive and intuitive single-page web application. © José Carlos Paiva, Ricardo Queirós, and Tiago Gasiba; licensed under Creative Commons License CC-BY 4.0.

2024

Comparing Semantic Graph Representations of Source Code: The Case of Automatic Feedback on Programming Assignments

Authors
Paiva, JC; Leal, JP; Figueira, A;

Publication
COMPUTER SCIENCE AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Abstract
Static source code analysis techniques are gaining relevance in automated assessment of programming assignments as they can provide less rigorous evaluation and more comprehensive and formative feedback. These techniques focus on source code aspects rather than requiring effective code execution. To this end, syntactic and semantic information encoded in textual data is typically represented internally as graphs, after parsing and other preprocessing stages. Static automated assessment techniques, therefore, draw inferences from intermediate representations to determine the correctness of a solution and derive feedback. Consequently, achieving the most effective semantic graph representation of source code for the specific task is critical, impacting both techniques' accuracy, outcome, and execution time. This paper aims to provide a thorough comparison of the most widespread semantic graph representations for the automated assessment of programming assignments, including usage examples, facets, and costs for each of these representations. A benchmark has been conducted to assess their cost using the Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) as a baseline. The results demonstrate that the Code Property Graph (CPG) is the most feature -rich representation, but also the largest and most space -consuming (about 33% more than AST).

2024

Clustering source code from automated assessment of programming assignments

Authors
Paiva, JC; Leal, JP; Figueira, A;

Publication
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DATA SCIENCE AND ANALYTICS

Abstract
Clustering of source code is a technique that can help improve feedback in automated program assessment. Grouping code submissions that contain similar mistakes can, for instance, facilitate the identification of students' difficulties to provide targeted feedback. Moreover, solutions with similar functionality but possibly different coding styles or progress levels can allow personalized feedback to students stuck at some point based on a more developed source code or even detect potential cases of plagiarism. However, existing clustering approaches for source code are mostly inadequate for automated feedback generation or assessment systems in programming education. They either give too much emphasis to syntactical program features, rely on expensive computations over pairs of programs, or require previously collected data. This paper introduces an online approach and implemented tool-AsanasCluster-to cluster source code submissions to programming assignments. The proposed approach relies on program attributes extracted from semantic graph representations of source code, including control and data flow features. The obtained feature vector values are fed into an incremental k-means model. Such a model aims to determine the closest cluster of solutions, as they enter the system, timely, considering clustering is an intermediate step for feedback generation in automated assessment. We have conducted a twofold evaluation of the tool to assess (1) its runtime performance and (2) its precision in separating different algorithmic strategies. To this end, we have applied our clustering approach on a public dataset of real submissions from undergraduate students to programming assignments, measuring the runtimes for the distinct tasks involved: building a model, identifying the closest cluster to a new observation, and recalculating partitions. As for the precision, we partition two groups of programs collected from GitHub. One group contains implementations of two searching algorithms, while the other has implementations of several sorting algorithms. AsanasCluster matches and, in some cases, improves the state-of-the-art clustering tools in terms of runtime performance and precision in identifying different algorithmic strategies. It does so without requiring the execution of the code. Moreover, it is able to start the clustering process from a dataset with only two submissions and continuously partition the observations as they enter the system.

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