Faculty Research and Publications

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Browsing Faculty Research and Publications by Author "Bashir, Maimoona"

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    Program wars v.2.0 : improving a game-based learning approach for teaching fundamental programming concepts
    (ACM, 2024) Tareque, Md. Hasan; Deutekom, Steven; Anvik, John; Bashir, Maimoona
    Game-based learning (GBL) provides an engaging way to introduce those with limited programming experience to fundamental pro- gramming concepts, Program Wars uses a GBL approach to teach fundamental programming concepts using cards that represent in- structions, loops, variables and methods to create a programming language-independent program. This paper introduces Program Wars v.2.0, which improves the prior implementation in several ways. These changes include the approach to teaching methods, introducing players to the concepts of searching and sorting algorithms, and revisions to the gameplay and UI to improve engagement. A user study of Program Wars v.2.0 was conducted and shows that Program Wars v.2.0 is more effective than Program Wars v.1.0 in teaching the concepts of variables, loops and methods. Specifically, 60% of participants showed knowledge improvements of variables, 56% showed knowledge improvements for loops, and 44% showed knowledge improvements for methods. Qualitative results show that Program Wars ’s game-based approach results in an engaging experience for learners.
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    You hacked my program? Teaching cybersecurity using game-based learning
    (ACM, 2024) Tareque, Md. Hasan; Deutekom, Steven; Anvik, John; Bashir, Maimoona
    As cyberthreats become more commonplace, the teaching of cyber- security concepts at an introductory level is becoming increasingly important. However, teaching this subject in an engaging manner is challenging. This work investigates the use of a game-based learn- ing approach to teaching cybersecurity concepts in the form of a card game called Program Wars. Within the game, players use cards to create a representation of a computer program while launching cyberattacks at their opponents and defending their own program. As the initial version of the game presented cybersecurity concepts at only a high-level, Program Wars v.2.0 was created to introduce players to eight common cyberattacks and the tools used to defend against them. The results of a user study show that after playing Program Wars v.2.0 a player’s knowledge of cybersecurity concepts is improved, showing that our game-based learning approach pro- vides an effective means for introducing cybersecurity concepts to those with little or no prior knowledge. As Program Wars is a freely available web-based game, it can easily be integrated into classes to improve a student’s knowledge of cybersecurity concepts.