There is an App for That: Moving a Large Introductory Computer Science Course to an Automated Course Delivery System

Computer science as a discipline is well-placed to research and adopt new pedagogical technologies as they are developed. Many popular software platforms that have been adopted across institutions have started as research projects in computer science programs. Additionally, because of the growth in demand for computer science as a program of study, CS instructors have been on the forefront of adopting new approaches and technologies to be able to meet the requirements of teaching at scale. However, being at this intersection creates challenges of its own. There are hundreds of tools and approaches, many with some level of research behind them. These tools come from vendors large and small, with costs both large and small, and with a wide variety of features that may or may not meet the needs of the instructor and the approach they want to pursue. From infinite diversity comes infinite combinations, with the attendant number of questions that instructors must answer when designing their courses. What tools do we use? How do we pick? How can we integrate them? Can we get support? Will my institution approve them? How can I adopt a technique like peer instruction in a class of 600 ? Will the tools I pick support 50,000 assignment submissions per term? How do I manage change? In this paper we will report our experience redesigning our CS 2 course from a mix of disparate tools to a fully-automated, integrated course delivery system. We combined multiple teaching platforms into a unified design, that is delivered to the student as a coherent whole, rather than piecemeal. We will discuss the design decisions we made, and some we didn't, and why. We will discuss our approach, the challenges we faced, and also provide instructors with a set of “lessons learned”, questions they should ask themselves and their colleagues as they embark on any course redesign.