A systematic literature review of student engagement in software visualization: a theoretical perspective

ABSTRACT

Background and Context: In spite of the decades spent developing software visualization (SV), doubts still remain regarding their effectiveness. Furthermore, student engagement plays an important role in improving SV effectiveness as it is correlated with many positive academic outcomes. It has been shown that the existing SV has failed to engage students effectively.

Objective: Therefore, there is a need to understand the theories behind SV design from the engagement perspective to produce a roadmap for future tool construction. The aim of this study was to identify the theories have been used in literature to explain or construct student engage- ment with SV in computer science courses for novices.

Method: We performed a systematic literature review that identified a total of 58 articles published between 2011 and 2017, which were then selected for the study. However, among them, only 18 articles had discussed their theoretical framework.

Findings: The results of this study show a richness in the theoretical framework obtained from different disciplines, however, constructivism is still dominant in the computing education research (CER) domain. It is evidently clear from the findings that the theories generated from the CER domain are needed to enhance the effectiveness of SV.

Implications: As a result of this review, we suggest several design principles and engagement attributes to be considered while creating an engaging SV.

KEYWORDS:

• Systematic literature review
• software visualization
• program visualization
• learning theory
• introductory programming education
• engagement

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Universiti Utara Malaysia and Ministry of Higher Education of Malaysia under Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) [S/O code:13581].

Notes on contributors

Abdullah Al-Sakkaf

Abdullah Al-Sakkaf is a doctoral student at the School of Computing, College of Arts and Sciences, Universiti Utara Malaysia. He has an MSc in Information Technology from UUM in 2017, and a Bachelor of Computer Information System from Al-Ahgaf University in Yemen. His research focuses on computer science education and teaching programming.

Mazni Omar

Mazni Omar is a senior lecturer at the School of Computing, College of Arts and Sciences, Universiti Utara Malaysia. She received the BSc. degree (with honors) in information technology from Universiti Utara Malaysia, in 2000, the MSc. degree in software engineering from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, in 2002, and the Ph.D. degree in information technology and quantitative sciences from Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia, in 2012. Her current research interests include empirical software engineering, data mining and knowledge management.

Mazida Ahmad

Mazida Ahmad is an Associate Professor at the School of Computing, College of Arts and Sciences, Universiti Utara Malaysia. She received the BMIS degree from International Islamic University of Malaysia, in 2001, the MSc. degree in Software Engineering from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, in 2003, and the Ph.D. degree in Knowledge Management from Universiti Sains Malaysia, in 2010. Her current research interests include knowledge management, information system development and software engineering education.