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\bibliographystyle{IEEEtran}

\title{PhD Interview Presentation}
%\subtitle{aa}
%\date{Week 1}
\author{Warwick New}

\begin{document}
\maketitle

\begin{frame}
	\frametitle{Points to cover}
	
  {\tiny
	\begin{itemize}
    \item 1. Why have you chosen to undertake doctoral research at Falmouth
      University, and how does its research environment align with your
      aspirations?
    \item 2. What is the central question, problem, or hypothesis driving your
      research, and how does it connect to Falmouth’s research strengths?
    \item 3. What do you hope to uncover, challenge, or contribute through your
      research?
    \item 4. Which prior work – whether theoretical, creative, or methodological
      -- do you consider significant in shaping your research area?
    \item 5. What key challenges do you anticipate in your research, and how do
      you plan to address them?
    \item 6. What previous work in your chosen or related field are you
      particularly proud of, and how does it inform your research direction?
    \item 7. What research methods do you propose to use (e.g. qualitative,
      quantitative, mixed methods), and why are they suited to your project?
    \item 8. What ethical considerations are relevant to your research,
      particularly in relation to Falmouth’s emphasis on creative and critical
      inquiry?
    \item 9. Which disciplinary field(s) does your research engage with, and how
      will your project contribute to existing knowledge within these areas?
    \item 10. What technical skills (e.g. research methods, software, languages)
      will you need to develop to support your research?
    \item 11. If your project is practice-based, how does your creative or
      professional practice inform and shape your enquiry?
	\end{itemize}
	}
\end{frame}

\section{What is the problem I'm trying to solve?}

\begin{frame}
  \frametitle{What is the problem space?}
  Students self perceptions about their programming ability largely affects
  several factors in deciding to continue learning to program \cite{lewis2011}.
  \newline

  A particular point of frustration for novice programmers is attempting to
  debug without thinking of the problem critically \cite[p.~23]{vickers2008}.
  \newline

  Recent literature has identified this as a problem space that generative AI
  can attempt to help resolve. Renzella et al's work \cite{renzella2025}
  demonstrates that there are aspects of learning that traditionally could only
  be fulfilled by an instructor outside highly controlled learning
  environments (like Gidget \cite{Lee2014}) that can be partially automated with
  generative AI. And therefore can be made more available to students outside
  time tabled sessions.
  %in this case reducing the cognitive load \cite{sweller1988} of reading and understanding compiler messages by providing more human-readable descriptions of compiler errors.
\end{frame}

%\begin{frame}
%  \frametitle{What is the gap I've identified}
%  \todo{Cite and Professionalise this slide}
%  \begin{itemize}
%    \item Much research into debugging education for students more recently is
%      focused on generative AI models and some new paradigms that come from that
%      \todo{\cite{}}. This is to be expected with a whole new paradigm in
%      education in this area.
%    \item Before this focus however much research into the area of first stage
%      computer science debbugging was focused on teaching debugging in closed
%      controlled environments \todo{\cite{}}, This allowed for experimentation
%      with making fixing coding problems more accessible, in terms of compiler
%      error messages and scaffolding of the processes a student might take when
%      they ran into a problem.
%    \item I think that we can take these classical educational tools and use
%      them combined with more recent generative AI computing education
%      technologies to.
%      \begin{enumerate}
%        \item Remove the need for locked down highly controlled debugging
%          environments.
%        \item Improve the human element to debugging messages and tools with how
%          much more human the AI can appear to be to students.
%      \end{enumerate}
%  \end{itemize}
%\end{frame}

\begin{frame}
  \frametitle{What is the Gap}
  Use of generative AI to learn how to debug isn't new in research. But there
  are some lessons learned from educational programming interventions applied in
  tools that could be made more accessible outside of sessions and scaled to a
  wider range of programming environments that we could apply, which has the
  potential to improve self-efficacy within the student base. Including:
  \begin{itemize}
    \item Personification of programming tools as fallible and encouraging, as
      presented by Lee et al \cite{Lee2011}, is shown to have a positive impact
      on learning motivation and success.
    \item Scaffolding what steps to take when you encounter a bug and
      encouraging the student to think through them one step at a time, improves
      self-efficacy and productivity as demonstrated in Pechorina et al's work
      on Metacodenition \cite{Pechorina2023}.
  \end{itemize}
  Both of these works are restriceted to very specific environments limiting
  their application on real world coding projects.
\end{frame}

%\begin{frame}
%  \frametitle{The fields this gap interacts with}
%  \begin{itemize}
%    \item Computer science education
%    \begin{itemize}
%      \item Specifically focusing on first stage debugging.
%    \end{itemize}
%    \item Psychology
%    \begin{itemize}
%      \item Student Self-efficacy. \todo{cite}
%      \item Students engagement. (Time Spent working on programming tasks)
%        \todo{Define engagement}
%    \end{itemize}
%    \item Artificial Intelligence
%    \begin{itemize}
%      \item Scaffolding of Generative AI queries to fit a more traditionally
%        productive learning environment in a wide range of situations.
%      \item Encourage personal reflection and action when attempting to solve
%        an issue.
%    \end{itemize}
%  \end{itemize}
%\end{frame}

\section{How I plan to address this space}

%\begin{frame}
%  \frametitle{How am I addressing the gap}
%  \todo{Talk about Gidget and offer scaffolding tools, then talk about how we
%  can create a tool to aid intervention}
%  I plan to create an intervention wherein I give students access to an AI tool
%  that takes elements from previous interventions that align with the principles
%  of improving self-efficacy in students, and combine it with more recent
%  breakthroughs in LLM based technologies to allow the intervention to be used
%  in a wider variety of programming environments and contexts.
%
%  I then plan to evaluate its impact on self-efficacy and potentially other
%  outcomes. \todo{Figure out what those outcomes are.}
%\end{frame}

%\begin{frame}
%  \frametitle{The Intervention}
%  \todo{Talk about methodology and the type of intervention that's taking place.
%  Why this method over other methods etc}
%
%  This artefact attempts  to replicate the channels of self-efficacy improvement
%  that one on one support from an instructor, by targeting these factors in
%  Bandura's theory \todo{cite}:
%\begin{itemize}
%  \item Mastery experiences (Experiencing more success in coding tasks).
%  \item Verbal encouragement.
%  \item Guided support.
%\end{itemize}
%  \todo{Check the previous itemisation isn't mistaken}
%
%  The agent will use techniques such as personification \todo{cite gidget} and
%  an AI models ability to translate errors into more accessible descriptions
%  replicate an instructors ability to help a student understand knowledge they
%  may be missing in terms of the language of a compiler. The model will also
%  focus on guiding the student towards the solution in a structured manner such
%  as in \todo{cite structured debugging intervention paper}.
%
%  The goal with this artefact is to as closely as possible replicate the
%  experience and self-efficacy improvements that come with 1 on 1 tuition
%  \todo{cite}, so that these benefits can be scaled up. And help seeking
%  behaviours be made more available.
%\end{frame}

\begin{frame}
  \frametitle{The Intervention}
  I plan to create an artefact that uses scaffolding and personification in an
  attempt to improve students self-efficacy \cite{Bandura1977} and reduce
  cognitive load \cite{Sweller1988}. 
  \newline

  This will be done by walking a student through any issues a
  real programming environment can throw at them with the use of an AI agent
  based avatar, which will break down the process of solving debugging issues in
  their own real world programming environment.
\end{frame}

\begin{frame}
  \frametitle{Methodology}
  Due to the nature of using a software tool to improve outcomes, an
  intervention based experiment becomes necessary \cite[p.~242]{Coe2025}. The
  projects' reliance on AI should also adhere to guidelines such as
  CONSORT-AI \cite{Liu2020} in order to remain reproducible and transparent.
  \newline

  If ethical issues surrounding the withholding of resources from some students
  that were made available to others even at random wasn't a worry, a random
  selection of student participants would be the best approach to reduce bias
  \cite[p.~245]{Coe2025}.
  \newline

  To counter this issue will I will be measuring results from a cohort before
  the intervention has been fully developed and comparing results to a cohort
  that has then since gained access to the artefact in a longitudinal study
  \cite[p.~224]{Coe2025}.
  \begin{itemize}
    \item Cohort A -- Pre-intervention Cohort
    \item Cohort B -- intervention Cohort
  \end{itemize}
\end{frame}

\begin{frame}
  \frametitle{Data Collection}
  %TODO come back to this
  Self-efficacy is a psychological self-perception and as such must be collected
  from communicating with the participants. 
  \newline

  There are however several methods we can use to quantify qualitative data
  through tools like Likert scales \cite{likert1932} and thematic analysis
  \cite{Braun2006} of feedback. 
  \newline

  Both of these methods require careful planning to avoid the influence of bias.
  I've interacted with them before in papers I've contributed to in the past
  \cite{Mitchell2021, Mitchell2022}, and I am confident in the GA's ability to
  guide me through the process of making sure I collect this data correctly.
\end{frame}

\section{Technology stacks and ethical considerations}

%\begin{frame}
%  \frametitle{Key challenges in the study}
%\end{frame}

\begin{frame}
  \frametitle{AI Ethical Concerns}
  This research immediately falls into at least medium risk in Falmouth
  University's ethics policy as it involves human participants. Due to the
  nature of interacting with generative AI addition measures will be necessary.
\begin{itemize}
  \item We should avoid giving AI access to children and vulnerable people.
  \item We should make sure to use ethically trained AI models where possible.
  \item Furthermore, we should follow CONSORT-AI \cite{Liu2020} to keep this
    research transparent and reproducible.
\end{itemize}

\end{frame}

\section{Me, My Skills, And why I want to study at Falmouth University}
% 1 4 9? 10?

\begin{frame}
  \frametitle{Who am I?: Relevant Job Experience}
  \begin{itemize}
    \item Senior Technician at Falmouth Universities Games Academy, specialising
      in Computing.
      \begin{itemize}
        \item Previously I was an Associate Lecturer and an e-Learning Developer
      \end{itemize}
    \item I have worked on streaming interactive 3D Architectural Visualisation
    experiences with \href{https://www.amutri.com/}{Amutri Ltd}
  \cite{AmutriLtd2025}. \item And I have worked with live audio streaming for
    podcasts in a former startup called Ramble that attempted to live stream
      podcasts and call in radio shows.
  \end{itemize}
\end{frame}

\begin{frame}
  \frametitle{Who am I?: Relevant Research}
  I have been contributed to the following papers with academic staff from
  Falmouth University previously:
  \begin{itemize}
    \item Student Perspectives on the Purpose of Peer Evaluation During Group
      Game Development Projects \cite{Mitchell2021}.
    \item An Exploratory Analysis of Student Experiences with Peer Evaluation in
      Group Game Development Projects \cite{Mitchell2022}.
  \end{itemize}
\end{frame}

\begin{frame}
  \frametitle{Why I want to study here}
  \begin{itemize}
    \item I already work here delivering content to the students and feel that
      the computing departments research goals and my work already align really
      well.
    \item The research area I'm applying to perform research within is the work
      I am already performing at this institution.
    \item It will be a good reason to continue to develop new software keeping
      up with novel techniques which can also influence my teaching.
  \end{itemize}
\end{frame}

\begin{frame}[allowframebreaks]
  \frametitle{References}
  {\tiny
  \bibliography{references.bib}
  }
\end{frame}

\end{document}
