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Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Dennis Bouvier, PhD, chair of the Department of Computer Science in the School of Engineering, and colleagues, earned Best Paper at the 47^th Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Technical Symposium on Computing Science Education held March 2-5 in Memphis.

The paper, titled “A Multi-Institutional Study of Peer Instruction in Introductory Computing,” is the result of a multi-institutional study of the practice of teaching computer science. It focuses on peer instruction, a student-centered pedagogy that emphasizes active participation in the classroom.

“I am honored and quite pleased to have this paper recognized,” said Bouvier. “Scholarship is the pursuit of learning at the frontier of what is known.

“Through our research, we found that a seemingly insignificant choice in how peer instruction is used has a significant impact on student engagement,” he explained. “While we didn’t study the direct effect on learning, improved learning naturally follows a good classroom environment. We hope that more computing educators can employ what we learned to improve student learning.”

The research is a result of collaboration between Bouvier and authors from Stanford University, University of California, San Diego, University of Connecticut and others from the United Kingdom.

About the Association for Computing Machinery: ACM brings together computing educators, researchers, and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the field’s challenges. As the world’s largest computing society, ACM strengthens the profession’s collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards and recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life‐long learning, career development and professional networking.

Photo: Dennis Bouvier, PhD, associate professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science in the SIUE School of Engineering.