Raising Standards: A Dialogic Approach to Improving Computing Students

This paper describes and analyses an intervention to improve the approach to, and the qualitative content of, written work for a computing module in one new UK University. Concerns about the standard of written documentation produced in earlier cohorts initiated collaboration between a subject expert, a Write Now CETL writing fellow and a learning and teaching specialist who, using an action research approach, attempted to address the issue by: (1)up-skilling the students involved and modelling the process for staff development (2) attempting to engage students in the process of writing for assessment within the academic discourse of their discipline (3) creating opportunities for dialogue concerning literary practices in academia. This paper evaluates this process including, the reported benefits to students and the difficulties encountered. Results are presented showing a significant improvement in the quality of student documentation. Recommendations are made for future developments and collaborations within the Computing curriculum