Department of CS newsletter

Just to bring to your attention recent announcements in regard to the Coronavirus (COVID-19). This was shared through staff-net last week and was also added to the Key Travel landing page. However we are aware of several flight bookings to Conferences which have subsequently been cancelled and flight costs being lost as a consequence. So just in case you missed it……

Here is a link to the latest update on StaffNet

Here are some of the highlights

I am planning a trip abroad and have a non-UK passport, what should I do?

If you are planning to travel to other countries please be aware that if you have a non-UK passport, some countries are adding visa restrictions in efforts to contain the virus. Please ensure your visa is valid before making any bookings.

Should I purchase refundable or non-refundable air/hotel fares?

Where possible, the University recommends purchasing refundable air fares/hotel rates in order to minimise the impact of the developing coronavirus situation. This additional premium rate gives some insurance against event, flight or hotel cancellations.

I would like to travel to China, what should I do?

Following the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19), all travel bookings to mainland China (excluding Hong Kong and Macau) are now suspended until further notice.

If you need to cancel a trip the following is taken from the FAQ pages within Key Travel:

1. If booked On-line

• Please login to your account on https://www.keytravel.com/uk/log-in
• Click on ‘Book Online’
• Click on ‘KT Online’ and ‘Continue’ - this will take you to the Flight search page
• Once on this page, please access your trip folder by clicking on the suitcase icon on the left hand side of the screen
• Click on the trip you would like to cancel
• Click on ‘Cancel trip’ and follow the instructions on the screen (this will cancel the entire trip)

• If you have multiple products on a trip (e.g. flights and hotel) and would like to cancel only one of them, please click the green ‘X’ next to the word ‘Confirmed’ below the product information and follow the instructions on the screen
• If you require support with an on-line cancellation please contact 0207 843 9673

1. If booked Off-line

• If booked off-line then please contact the Key Travel team on 0161 819 9797

In Glasgow, Canterbury and Manchester, we're starting a national Journal Club, as part ofuki-sigcse.acm.org. Who should come? What paper will we be discussing? How can you join? Read on...

Who should come?

Our journal club will be of interest to academics, teaching assistants and students of Computer Science.

Agenda: The paper we'll be discussing

If you'd like to join us, read the paper: Identifying Student Misconceptions of Programming by Lisa Kaczmarczyk et al [1] This was voted a top paper from the last 50 years by SIGCSE members in 2019

According to Reinventing Nerds, the paper has been influential because it was the "first to apply rigorous research methods to investigating misconceptions". After a brief introduction to the paper and its authors we will discuss the following:

• How much are you convinced by the evidence, arguments and conclusions presented?
• How could you use the results and insights in your own work?
• What is good about the paper?
• What could be improved?
• What are the next steps that follow on from this research?
• Why was this paper voted top 10 of all time by SIGCSE.org members?
• Are there any elephants in the room? Does the paper omit anything relevant or gloss over important details?
• What do we know that we know (Rumsfeld's known knowns)
• What do we know that we don't know (Rumsfeld's known unknowns)
• How has consensus and opinion moved since the publication of this paper ten years ago? If so, how and why?
• Why was this paper chosen for journal club?
• AOB: Any other questions or comments?
• What paper should we discuss at our next meeting?

How do I join?

Find out more at SIGCSE Journal Club Manchester, we hope to see you there. All welcome.

References

1. Kaczmarczyk, Lisa C.; Petrick, Elizabeth R.; East, J. Philip; Herman, Geoffrey L. (2010). "Identifying student misconceptions of programming", SIGCSE '10: Proceedings of the 41st ACM technical symposium on Computer science education, pages 107–111. doi:10.1145/1734263.1734299

Duncan Hull