About

Kwansun Cho is an Instructional Assistant Professor of the Department of Engineering Education in the UF Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering. She currently teaches introductory computer programming courses for engineers. Her educational research interests include improved flipped classroom teaching and learning for students, as well as computer- or web-assisted personalized learning. She has previously worked as an adjunct instructor for the University of Florida and Santa Fe College, and as a technical specialist and patent agent for an intellectual property law firm. Kwansun holds M.S. and M.E. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Florida and Yonsei University, respectively, and a B.E. degree in Electronic Communication Engineering from Kwandong University in South Korea.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Psychology
• Mathematics education
• Engineering
• Multimedia
• Medical education

Selected publications

• Unleashing Video Benefits: Student Perceptions in a Flipped Programming Course

  2025-08-21

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Engaging Minds: Impact of Sequential Live Coding on Academic Engagement

  2025-08-21

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Apples or Oranges: A Step Back in Time to Understand Which Programming Language is for Novice Programmers

  2024-08-03 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  In this work-in-progress paper, the emphasis is to understand the perceptions about which language should be the first programming language.Computer programming is a fundamental skill for novice engineers.However, over time, multiple programming languages have emerged and are being used as the first language for students.While in modern times, many schools around the globe, particularly in the USA, consider Python's syntax simplicity and versatility as a way to go, other places and traditional computer scientists consider C++'s efficiency as their choice.Similarly, many engineering schools introduce MATLAB as the first programming language.While these decisions are made at the university or departmental level, novice programmers, when they begin programming, are affected by this choice in more than one way as it helps them not only understand how to program but also carve the path for their future choices on kind of programs they will pursue (e.g., web applications, machine learning, or embedded systems).To understand which programming language may be relevant today, especially with the boom of AI technologies, we are taking a step backward to collect perceptions on which language may be suitable.For this purpose, using an open-ended questionnaire, we collected the data from 22 members of the instructional team (8 faculty members, 14 peer mentors/undergraduate teaching assistants) in a large R1 Southeastern university.More specifically, this paper answers the question: Which computer programming language should be introduced first to novice programmers?The paper's results are novel as they provide comparative insights into the viewpoints of faculty and peer mentors.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Relationship of Students' Engagement with Learning Management System and their Performance- An Undergraduate Programming Course Perspective

  2024 · 10 citations

  • Computer Science
  • Computer Science
  • Multimedia

  The Covid-19 pandemic forced the closures of universities across the United States, resulting in multiple modes of instruction.These transitions required both students and instructors to adequately use educational technology tools and applications.Most instructors used a learning management system (e.g., Canvas, Blackboard) and an online conference tool (e.g., Zoom, Teams) to ensure students' access to course material, class participation, and engagement.In the new normal time, although the in-person classes started in many universities, the hybrid of Hyflex mode (i.e., students in both in-person and on zoom sessions) is more prevalent.Students and instructors find educational technology tools as an easier way to disseminate the course information (e.g., videos), material (e.g., course videos, study guides, and notes), and assessments (e.g., quizzes).Considering the reliance on technology tools, it is crucial to understand the relationships between students' application engagement and performance.This paper examined the relationship between students' engagement with an educational Learning Management System (LMS) and their performance.In addition, we also evaluated the way students' engagement with the LMS changed over time during a semester (15 weeks).For this purpose, we collected the data from two sections, 84 students of the introductory engineering programming (MATLAB) course.For students' engagement with the LMS (Canvas in this case), we collected the timestamps each week, indicating the number of hours spent by each student on the LMS.As the timestamps were cumulative, we collected the data at the end of each week at the same time and calculated the weekly time spent by each student on the LMS.We used students' performance scores in two exams for students' performance.We used Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis for this semester-long study to understand the relationship between students' engagement with the LMS and students' performance.We also conducted the repeated measures ANOVA to understand the trends of students' engagement with the LMS.The study results bring an interesting perspective indicating a significant relationship between students' app engagement in three weeks and programming parts of exam1 and four weeks on the programming part of exam2.Although instructor-based variations were significant in PartII of both exams, app engagement significantly predicted exam2 and PartII of exam1.The paper discusses these results with course content, limitations, and future directions.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Shaking The Silos: Impact of Sequential Live Coding on Students' Performance and Perceptions

  2024-08-04 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  In today's era, computer programming is a fundamental skill required of all undergraduate students, especially those in computing and engineering disciplines.Due to the conceptually challenging nature of programming courses, efforts have been made to improve student learning outcomes, and multiple instructional mechanisms that provide hands-on experiences have been proposed.One commonly used mechanism has been dynamic live coding.Although live coding by instructors is an invaluable source of learning, it has certain disadvantages, such as passive attention and limited hands-on experience.Keeping the essence of live coding, we examine the impact of a newly introduced "Sequential Live Coding" strategy on students' performance."Sequential Live Coding" differs from traditional live coding in four main aspects: 1) multiple students are selected for each program coding session, 2) live coding is done by the students, where they take turns to complete the program, 3) the students explain their work to the class, and 4) instructor uses the backward lecture style (the completed program is used to lecture) to highlight and expand on the key points of the program in a step by step manner.This paper examines the effectiveness of this approach, focusing on two research questions: 1) Does performance in exams differ between the students who participated in "Sequential Live Coding" and those who did not participate?and 2) What are students' perceptions regarding "Sequential Live Coding"?The data were collected from 70 students enrolled in two programming courses, i.e., Python and C++.Using convergent parallel mixed methods research design, the study presents the results after triangulating qualitative (end-of-semester questionnaire of students' perceptions) and quantitative data (students' exam scores).It provides the convergence and divergence of using such activity in two programming courses as part of a real classroom investigation.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Work-in-Progress: Relationship of Students' Class Preparation and Learning in a Flipped Computer Programming Course

  2024 · 4 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Computer Science
  • Mathematics education

  Abstract This work-in-progress paper examines the relationship between students' preparation in flipped class and their learning. In engineering education, flipped course design is getting more attention among instructors of STEM courses. Flipped classroom model emphasizes student-centered learning, where much of students' learning is connected to their preparation before coming to the class using videos and other study material. As the model is highly dependent on students' self-preparation, it is crucial to capture the trends of students' preparation and its impact on students' learning for effective course design and continuous improvement. This study presents the preliminary results of an online flipped C++ programming course and evaluates the relationship between undergraduate students' class preparation and learning. Data were collected from 66 students for the whole semester, comprising 15 weeks. For preparation, students were encouraged to watch two videos for the flipped class: 1) description of programming construct and concept and 2) instructor emulation of a live coding session. For measuring students' class preparation, we recorded the video analytics indicating the time spent by each student to watch both videos respectively in each week. In addition, we used students' final scores in the course to measure students' learning and evaluated the relationship between students' class preparation and learning. Furthermore, we examined the trends of time spent on video watching for each week. Preliminary analysis was conducted using multiple regression and repeated measures ANOVA. The results indicate a significant relationship between students' preparation (time spent on videos) and their learning (final score). Further, the trends in repeated measures highlight the weeks where students spent the most time preparing. This work-in-progress paper relates the study results with the course design.

  PublisherDOI

• A Blended Approach to Design an Introductory Programming Course for Non-CS Majors: Students’ Feedback

  2024-02-07 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Dr. Anwar has over 13 years of teaching experience, primarily in the disciplines of engineering education, computer science and software engineering.Her research focuses on studying the unique contribution of different instructional strategies on

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A computer assisted pronunciation training system

  The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 2013-11-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  A computer assisted pronunciation training (CAPT) system is implemented for native Korean speakers who are learning American English. The CAPT system is designed to help a Korean adult learner improve his/her production and perception of American English front vowels (/i, I, ɛ, æ/) since these vowels are the most difficult for Korean learners due to the different phonetic systems of the two languages. The CAPT system provides a learner a learning session mimicking a live interaction between teacher and student as well as a practice session triggering a learner’s interest in continued practice. Pedagogically meaningful activities such as listen-and-repeat, minimal-pair-comparison, target-sound-isolation, and record-and-play are utilized in the learning session. During the learning session, the CAPT system analyzes a monosyllabic word including one of the target front vowels spoken by a learner and gives instantaneous personalized feedback. During the practice session, the CAPT system provides real-time games that are fun but also provide the necessary perception and articulation practice.

  PublisherDOI

• Effectiveness of a robust computer assisted pronunciation training tool

  The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 2007-11-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  A reliable ASR-based pronunciation training tool named STAR (self-training accent reduction) is implemented for native speakers of Korean learning American English. STAR is designed to focus on the most frequent phonemic errors made by Korean adult learners and to provide instantaneous feedback. In order to investigate the effectiveness of STAR, ten Korean participants are recruited for this pilot study. The study consists of three phases: Pre-test, training, and post-test. During the pre-test, the participants read a pre-designed word list containing accent sensitive phonemes into a microphone and participate in one session of training using the STAR system. The participants return for two more sessions of training on the following day. The post-test is administered on the third day, after one additional training session. During the post-test, the participants read the same wordlist as the one administered during the pre-test, and an additional wordlist that they were not trained on. Two trained phoneticians listen and transcribe all recordings to examine whether the participants’ productions are more accurate after the STAR training. The results indicate that most of the participants who practice pronunciation with STAR show improvement in their pronunciation.

  PublisherDOI

• Towards an automatic foreign accent reduction tool

  2006-05-02 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  An automatic tool to reduce foreign-accent is described and evaluated. An unaccented speech utterance was used to improve three prosodic features of a corresponding foreign-accented utterance. The duration, pitch and intensity of the foreign-accented speech utterance were modified using DTW (Dynamic Time Warping), WSOLA (Waveform Similarity Overlap Add), and other automatic speech processing algorithms. The modified speech utterance was then evaluated to determine the perceived foreign accent compared to the original. Fifteen native speakers of American English took part in the perceptual test to rate the degree of foreign-accent in Korean-accented American English. The results show that the modified Korean-accented utterances were perceived to have a lower degree of foreign-accent than the original Korean-accented utterances. 1.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Saira Anwar

  University of Florida

  56 shared

• Sung Yang Bang

  Bridge University

  25 shared

• Syeda Fizza Ali

  Texas A&M University

  16 shared

• John G. Harris

  The University of Texas at Austin

  4 shared

• Sarah Rajkumari Jayasekaran

  Texas A&M University

  4 shared

• Syeda Fizza Ali

  University at Buffalo, State University of New York

  4 shared

• Rahul Shrivastav

  Indiana University Bloomington

  1 shared

• Umer Farooq

  1 shared