SelectedWorks - Amber Settle

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Selected Works of Amber Settle

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Amber Settle is a Professor in the School of Computing and has been on the DePaul full-time faculty since September 1996. She earned a B.S. in mathematics and a B.A. in German from the University of Arizona, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in theoretical computer science from the University of Chicago. Dr. Settle's research interests include information technology and computer science education and theoretical computer science. Between 2008 and 2011 she was a PI on an NSF-funded project to expand computational thinking in Liberal Studies courses, and between 2004 and 2019 she was a Vincent de Paul Professor. Dr. Settle served on the Executive Board of the ACM Special Interest Group for Computer Science Education (SIGCSE) between 2010 and 2022, serving as an at-large member, SIGCSE treasurer, chair, and immediate past chair. Between 2013 and 2015 she was involved in the organization of conferences for the ACM Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education (SIGITE).

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About Amber Settle

Amber Settle is a Professor in the School of Computing and has been on the DePaul full-time faculty since September 1996. She earned a B.S. in mathematics and a B.A. in German from the University of Arizona, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in theoretical computer science from the University of Chicago. Dr. Settle's research interests include information technology and computer science education and theoretical computer science. Between 2008 and 2011 she was a PI on an NSF-funded project to expand computational thinking in Liberal Studies courses, and between 2004 and 2019 she was a Vincent de Paul Professor. Dr. Settle served on the Executive Board of the ACM Special Interest Group for Computer Science Education (SIGCSE) between 2010 and 2022, serving as an at-large member, SIGCSE treasurer, chair, and immediate past chair. Between 2013 and 2015 she was involved in the organization of conferences for the ACM Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education (SIGITE).

Present	Associate Professor, DePaul University
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Present	Director, Innovation in Technology Education Center, DePaul University
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Present	Vincent DePaul Professor, DePaul University
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Curriculum and Instruction, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research, Other Education, and Theory and Algorithms

Algorithms, Cellular automata, and Information technology education

Electronic Arts Scholar, The International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (ICFDG), 2009
DePaul University Quality of Instruction Council Excellence in Teaching Award, 2003
Best Paper Award, Information Systems Education Conference (ISECON), 2002

CSC 211: Programming in Java I
CSC 212: Programming in Java II
CSC 321: Design and Analysis of Algorithms
CSC 444: Automata Theory and Formal Grammars
GAM 224: Introduction to Game Design
ISP 103: The Digital Divide
IT 130: The Internet and the Web

243 S. Wabash Avenue
Chicago, IL 60604
(312) 362-5324
Fax: (312) 362-6116

Refereed Journal Articles (16)

A Think-Aloud Study of Novice Debugging (Jacqueline Whalley, Amber Settle and Andrew Luxton-Reilly) ACM Transactions on Computing Education (2023)

Debugging is a core skill required by programmers, yet we know little about how to effectively teach the process of debugging. The challenges of learning debugging are compounded for novices who lack experience and are ...

Learning to Get Literal: Investigating Reference-Point Difficulties in Novice Programming (Craig S. Miller and Amber Settle) ACM Transactions on Computing Education (2019)

We investigate conditions in which novices make some reference errors when programming. We asked students from introductory programming courses to perform a simple code-writing task that required constructing references to objects and their attributes. By ...

Exploring Bebras Tasks Content and Performance: A Multinational Study. (Cruz Izu, Claudio Mirolo, Amber Settle, et al.) Informatics in education (2017)

Undergraduate Students’ Perceptions of the Impact of Pre-College Computing Activities on Choices of Major (Monica M. McGill, Adrienne Decker and Amber Settle) ACM Transactions on Computing Education (2016)

A lack of diversity in the computing field has existed for several decades, and although female participation in computing remains low, outreach programs attempting to address the situation are now quite numerous. To begin to ...

Demographics of undergraduates studying games in the United States: a comparison of computer science students and the general population (Monica M. McGill, Amber Settle and Adrienne Decker) Computer Science Education (2013)

Our study gathered data to serve as a benchmark of demographics of undergraduate students in game degree programs. Due to the high number of programs that are cross-disciplinary with computer science programs or that are ...

Identifying Effects of Institutional Resources and Support on Computing Faculty Research Productivity, Tenure, and Promotion (Monica M. McGill and Amber Settle) International Journal of Doctoral Studies (2012)

As previous research has shown, increasing research productivity in postsecondary institutions provides direct benefits to those institutions, departments, and individual faculty, and this research productivity is often dependent on institutional support. Understanding this relationship is ...

When Practice Doesn’t Make Perfect: Effects of Task Goals on Learning Computing Concepts (Craig S. Miller and Amber Settle) ACM Transactions on Computing Education (2011)

Specifying file references for hypertext links is an elementary competence that nevertheless draws upon core computational thinking concepts such as tree traversal and the distinction between relative and absolute references. In this article we explore ...

Learning Style Differences (Tom Berry and Amber Settle) The International Journal of Education Research (2011)

Distance Learning and Student Satisfaction in Java Programming Courses (Amber Settle and Chad Settle) Journal of Universal Computer Science (2007)

Student satisfaction with distance learning is impacted by a variety of factors, including interaction with the instructor and the structure of the course. Satisfaction with distance-learning courses also has a strong impact on retention. In ...

Course Mentoring: Toward Achieving Consistency in the Curriculum (Lucia Dettori and Amber Settle) Information Systems Education Journal (2005)

One the main challenges in achieving consistency in the curriculum is the delivery and coordination of multi-section introductory courses. The mix of adjunct, new, and seasoned instructors, the frequent changes in course content and learning ...

Bounding the firing synchronization problem on a ring (André Berthiaume, Todd Bittner, Ljubomir Perković, et al.) Theoretical Computer Science (2004)

In this paper we improve the upper and lower bounds on the complexity of solutions to the firing synchronization problem on a ring. In this variant of the firing synchronization problem the goal is to ...

Informed Discussion in Information Technology Survey Courses (Amber Settle, André Berthiaume, Evelyn Lulis, et al.) Information Systems Education Journal (2003)

Structured debates have been suggested as a way to help students understand the basic ethical, so"cial, and legal issues inherent in information technology. In this paper, we present evidence that a form of less structured ...

Debating E-Commerce: Engaging Students in Current Events (Amber Settle and André Berthiaume) Information Systems Education Journal (2003)

A fundamental task for information technology educators is to help students understand the basic ethical, social, and legal issues inherent in the discipline. We present a method for achieving this goal using in-class debates. Debates ...

Smaller solutions for the firing squad (Amber Settle and Janos Simon) Theoretical Computer Science (2002)

In this paper we improve the bounds on the complexity of solutions to the firing squad problem, also known as the firing synchronization problem. In the firing synchronization problem we consider a one-dimensional array of n identical ...

Ranked retrieval with semantic networks and vector spaces (Vladimir Kulyukin and Amber Settle) Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (2001)

The equivalence of semantic networks with spreading activation and vector spaces with dot product is investigated under ranked retrieval. Semantic networks are viewed as networks of concepts organized in terms of abstraction and packaging relations. ...

Women in Martin Luther's Life and Theology (Albrecht Classen and Amber Settle) German Studies Review (1991)

A Framework for Addressing Gender Imbalance in the Game Industry through Outreach (Monica M. McGill, Adrienne Decker and Amber Settle) Gender Considerations and Influence in the Digital Media and Gaming Industry (2014)

Though the lack of diversity in the game industry workforce has received a great deal of attention recently, few initiatives have been implemented to address it. In particular, gender composition in the game industry workforce ...

Expanding Opportunities: Assessing and Addressing Geographic Diversity at the SIGCSE Technical Symposium (Brett A. Becker, Amber Settle, Andrew Luxton-Reilly, et al.) SIGCSE '21: Proceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (2021)

The ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE) is one of the oldest and largest SIGs, and the SIGCSE Technical Symposium is the oldest and largest of the four SIGCSE conferences. However, the ...

Mixing and Matching Loop Strategies: By Value or By Index? (Craig S. Miller and Amber Settle) SIGCSE '21: Proceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (2021)

Increasingly, languages used in computing curricula offer abstract constructs that permit list iteration by value, in addition to the traditional access by index. Given this option, this study explores the loop constructs students choose when ...

Novice Reflections on Debugging (Jacqueline Whalley, Amber Settle and Andrew Luxton-Reilly) SIGCSE '21: Proceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (2021)

Despite decades of literature calling for research on teaching debugging, we still lack clear guidelines on how to teach debugging processes effectively. This is a significant problem as debugging is an activity that is a ...

Analysis of a Process for Introductory Debugging (Jacqueline Whalley, Amber Settle and Andrew Luxton-Reilly) ACE 2021: Twenty-Third Australasian Computing Education Conference (2021)

Debugging code is a complex task that requires knowledge about the mechanics of a programming language, the purpose of a given program, and an understanding of how the program achieves the purpose intended. It is ...

Retention Rates for the First Three Years of a Linked-courses Learning Community (Amber Settle and Theresa Steinbach) Proceedings of The 19th Annual Conference on Information Technology Education (2018)

While enrollments in computing degrees and courses have grown rapidly in the past decade, both female and minority male students remain underrepresented in computing programs. This makes recruitment and retention of these populations a continuing ...

Informing Students about Academic Integrity in Programming. (Simple Simon, Judy Sheard, Michael Morgan, et al.) ACE 2018: 20th Australasian Computing Education Conference (2018)

In recent years academic integrity has come to be seen as a major concern across the full educational spectrum. The case has been made that in certain ways academic integrity is not the same in ...

The Effect of a Computing-focused Linked-courses Learning Community on Minority and Female Students (Amber Settle, James Doyle and Theresa Steinbach) Conference on Information Technology Education (2017)

While enrollments in computing degrees and courses have grown rapidly in the past decade, both female and minority male students remain underrepresented in computing programs. This makes recruitment and retention of these populations a continuing ...

Improving Retention and Reducing Isolation via a Linked-courses Learning Community (Amber Settle and Theresa Steinbach) Conference on Information Technology Education (2016)

Despite a rebound in enrollments, men of color and women remain underrepresented in computing. The literature indicates that student-student interaction, affinity for the computing major, and reduced feelings of isolation are important for retention of ...