Engaging Students in Co-creating Contextualized Learning Materials in Computing Education

Contextualized learning materials connect abstract computing concepts to settings that learners recognize and resonate with. However, designing learning materials that carry both learning benefits and present relatable contexts for students requires both subject expertise and knowledge of students’ interests. Prior learnersourcing studies have primarily examined the generation and evaluation of questions, hints, and explanations. Comparatively less attention has been paid to contextualization itself as the object of the learnersourcing task. Our approach employs constructivist principles and learnersourcing, allowing students to co-create learning materials situated in contexts of their choosing. We constructed and refined a learnersourcing workflow through a preliminary study (N=23) and evaluated the workflow on three computing concepts (N=45) in a database programming class with junior/senior students at a public land-grant university in the United States. The refined implementation combined stepwise scaffolding, a peer-authored exemplar, and a more granular rubric. Under this implementation, students produced a wide range of contexts, and the instructor rated most artifacts highly on the revised rubric. A third study (89 enrolled; 82 participated) examined how a subsequent cohort selected, solved, and reflected on contextualized problems adapted from worked examples authored by prior students. This work integrates human-computer interaction methodologies with social learning theories and makes the following contributions: (1) a learnersourcing workflow derived from Gance's constructivist components and refined against difficulties observed in an initial deployment, (2) insights into the challenges faced by students when contextualizing computing concepts, alongside a detailed analysis of their successful outcomes, (3) evidence on how downstream learners choose among and perceive peer-authored contexts, and (4) design recommendations for future learnersourcing workflows and tools.