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Mr. Glenn Strong

Assistant Professor (Computer Science)
7/9 STH LEINSTER ST


Glenn Strong is an Assistant Professor in the School of Computer Science and Statistics, Trinity College Dublin. He was awarded a BSc in Computing Science from the University of Stirling, Scotland (1994). He is a member of the Discipline of Software Systems, the Foundations and Methods research group, the Centre for Research in IT and Education (CRITE), and the Computational Thinking for Life (CT4L) research group. His research interests include Functional Programming, Formal Methods, Type Theory, Computational Thinking, and Programming Education. He has taught on wide range of undergraduate and and postgraduate programmes in areas including functional programming, software engineering, object-oriented programming, networking.
  Computer Science/Engineering   Foundations and methods   Functional Programming   Mathematics of computing   Programming, Information systems
 Pytch Phase 2: Bridging Blocks to Text in the Curriculum
 OurKidsCode: Delivering Family Creative Coding Workshops Nationally
 Pytch: A Bridge from Block to Text Programming
 Phase 2 Supporting families' continued engagement in computing
 OurKidsCode

Details Date
QQI Expert Group multimedia and electro-technology awards (December 2014 -- January 2017). Designed new modules and new FETAC level 5 and 6 awards. Panel member
QQI Validation panel. February - August 2017. I reviewed and validated new Level 5 and 6 offerings made by 7 regional Education and Training Boards. Panel member
Chair Irish Free Software Organisation. Chair of national grassroots organisation which has made contributions to public debate and policy discussion at European and National levels. 2004-ongoing
Details Date From Date To
Irish Free Software Organisation 2004 Ongoing
Computers in Education Society of Ireland (CESI) 2013 Ongoing
Computing at School (CAS) 2013 Ongoing
Ireland ACM SIGCSE Chapter 2019 Ongoing
Family learning in the context of computer science education in, editor(s)Leask, M., & Younie, S , Teaching and Learning with Technologies in the Primary School, London, Routledge, 2024, pp299 - 317, [Bresnihan, N., Millwood, R., Strong, G., & Caldwell, L], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED  DOI
Strong, Glenn and North, Ben and Fiori, Sara and Wallace, Duncan and Bresnihan, Nina and Gillespie, Brian, Pytch - Supporting your Teaching of Coding in the Classroom, Proceedings of the 2024 on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 2, New York, NY, USA, Association for Computing Machinery, 2024, pp779-780 , Conference Paper, PUBLISHED  DOI
Strong, Glenn and North, Ben and Gillespie, Brian and Fiori, Sara and Wallace, Duncan and Bresnihan, Nina, Experiences Trialling a Novel Block-to-text Environment in a Summer School Context, Proceedings of the 2024 on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 1, New York, NY, USA, Association for Computing Machinery, 2024, pp150-156 , Conference Paper, PUBLISHED  DOI
Strong, Glenn and North, Ben and Fiori, Sara and Gillespie, Brian and Bresnihan, Nina, Pytch - Supporting Learners over the Bridge from Blocks to Text, Proceedings of the 2023 Conference on United Kingdom & Ireland Computing Education Research, UKICER '23, Swansea, Wales, September 7-8, 2023, Association for Computing Machinery, 2023, pp1 , Conference Paper, PUBLISHED  DOI  URL
N Bresnihan, A Bray, L Fisher, G Strong, R Millwood, B Tangney, Parental involvement in computer science education and computing attitudes and behaviours in the home: Model and scale development, ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGSCE) 2022, Providence, Rhode Island, USA, March 2-7, 2022, ACM SIGSCE, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED  URL
Strong, G. and North, B., Pytch - an environment for bridging block and text programming styles (Work in progress), The 16th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education, Erlangen, Germany/Online, edited by Berges M., Muhling A., Armoni M. , Association for Computing Machinery, 2021, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED  DOI
Nina Bresnihan, Aibhín Bray, Lorraine Fisher, Glenn Strong, Richard Millwood, Brendan Tangney, Parental Involvement in Computer Science Education and Computing Attitudes and Behaviours in the Home: Model and Scale Development, ACM Transactions on Computing Education, 21, (3), 2021, p1 - 24, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Prior Programming Experience of Undergraduate Computing and Engineering Students in Ireland in, editor(s)Tatnall A. , Encyclopedia of Education and Information Technologies, Cham, Springer, 2020, [Strong G., Higgins C., Bresnihan N., Millwood R.], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED  DOI
Abeer Alsheaibi, Meriel Huggard, Glenn Strong, Teaching within the CoderDojo Movement: An Exploration of Mentors' Teaching Practices, IEEE Frontiers in Education, Uppsala, Sweden (moved online), 21-24th October 2020, IEEE, 2020, pp1-5 , Conference Paper, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text  DOI
Bresnihan N., Strong G., Fisher L., Millwood R., Lynch A., Increasing Parental Involvement in Computer Science Education Through the Design and Development of Family Creative Computing Workshops, Communications in Computer and Information Science, 1220, 2020, p479 - 502, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
  

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Glenn Strong, Ben North, Nina Bresnihan, Pytch - "Scratch-oriented programming" in Python, Scratch Conference Europe 2019, Churchill College, Cambridge, 23-25 August 2019, 2019, Oral Presentation, PUBLISHED
Glenn Strong, Richard Millwood, A Survey of Prior Experience of Computing and Engineering Undergraduates, Third level computing forum, Dublin, 2017, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED
Bresnihan, N., Byrnes J., Millwood, R., Strong, G., Scratching through the Ceiling, Scratch AMS 7th International Scratch Conference, Amsterdam, 12-15 August 2015, 2015, Conference Paper, PRESENTED
Malcolm Dowse, Glenn Strong and Andrew Butterfield, Proving "make" Correct: I/O Proofs in Two Functional Languages, TCD, TCD, 2003, Report, PUBLISHED
Butterfield, A., Strong, G., Comparing Proofs about I/O in Three Programming Paradigms, TCD, TCD, 2001, Report, PUBLISHED
Strong, G, Notes on "Algebra of Programming", TCD, 1999, Report, PUBLISHED
Strong, G, A tutorial on the Concurrent Clean IO libraries, TCD, 1998, Report, PUBLISHED

  

Award Date
Master in Arts (jure officii) 2015
My research is focused on improving the ways in which students engage with computing education, and particularly how they develop the key skill of programming. This requires us to understand both the context in which this education is happening, and to identify or create the correct frameworks and learning tools to support this. This work is particularly important as the global trend to embed computing at all stages of the educational cycle grows - in Ireland Computer Science has been introduced at Leaving Certificate level and is being considered at primary level. I lead the SFI Discover funded "Pytch" project (total of approx €350,000 since 2022) which is building software tools and learning resources to help young students of computer science make the transition from block-based to text-based programming languages. The Pytch online programming environment aims to improve take-up of Computer Science by smoothing the transition from 'beginner' programming environments to mainstream tools, through the development of a new environment which brings the familiar Scratch-style programming model to the Python language. For the OurKidsCode project (approx €700,000 in SFI Discover funding since 2018) under the Lead PI Nina Bresnihan, I am Co-PI leading the development of workshops and learning tools for family creative computing. The impact of this will be to grow a national network of coding clubs involving parents of primary school children who will engage with computing as a creative activity. These workshops are now being rolled out nationally in collaboration with the National Parents Council and CoderDojo mentors, with financial support from Microsoft. In the CTwins project I was the project programming expert, where I created an innovative model for collaborative online creative computing for education. I am focused on developing approaches to computing education based on collaborative constructivist principles to increase engagement in informal environments. I am developing software tools targeting learners at the crucial transition point from the successful tools targeting early (primary age) learners to the traditional software tools that target adult learners. Approaches based on this combination of collaborative human environments and supportive technology have been shown to have positive impact. Any understanding of how to improve education in this area needs to be grounded in a better understanding of the current context that we have. To this end I have designed and lead an ongoing multi-year project in which colleagues across Ireland have collaborated to supply data on undergraduates who study programming. The project establishes the extent of their prior exposure to programming, giving insight into the current Irish context for computer science education, as well as the evolving nature, origins, and usefulness of ongoing grassroots activities. The project continues to gather data to illustrate how this is changing over time.