Implementation and Evaluation of Technical Interview Preparation Activities in a Data Structures and Algorithms CourseIn-Person
This experience report describes and evaluates the introduction of technical interview preparation activities in a Data Structures and Algorithms (DSA) course. Our intervention included a panel on internship experiences, a role-play interviewing demonstration, two participatory mock interview preparation exercises where students interviewed each other first using self-selected peers and second through random pair-ups, and graded short programming problems. We (1) explain the logistics and rationale for embedding these activities, (2) describe the lessons learned and evolution of the activities beyond the intervention semester, and (3) evaluate the impact of these activities on students. We report data from 257 students who participated in our intervention and 106 students who were a part of a control group. Students found that our activities promoted awareness of the recruitment process, allowed them to self-evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, and prepared them for technical interviews. Quantitatively, the intervention cohort reported a higher average normalized confidence gain (0.42) than the control group (0.36) indicating that our activities can aid in building students’ confidence. Our work contributes rich descriptions of interview preparation activities which can be used by instructors to incorporate these activities in computing courses.
Fri 17 MarDisplayed time zone: Eastern Time (US & Canada) change
15:45 - 17:00 | |||
15:45 25mPaper | Implementation and Evaluation of Technical Interview Preparation Activities in a Data Structures and Algorithms CourseIn-Person Papers Amanpreet Kapoor University of Florida, USA, Sajani Panchal University of Florida, Christina Gardner-McCune Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA DOI | ||
16:10 25mPaper | Prior Programming Experience: A Persistent Performance Gap in CS1 and CS2In-PersonGlobal Papers Giang Bui University of Toronto Mississauga, Naaz Sibia University of Toronto Mississauga, Angela Zavaleta Bernuy University of Toronto, Michael Liut University of Toronto Mississauga, Andrew Petersen University of Toronto DOI | ||
16:35 25mPaper | Replication and Expansion Study on Factors Influencing Student Performance in CS2In-Person Papers DOI |