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Dr. Nina Bresnihan

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

Dr. Nina Bresnihan

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

 Nina.Bresnihan@tcd.ie

 3531896 2704


Nina Bresnihan is an Assistant Professor and Course Director of Computer Science Joint Honours in the School of Computer Science & Statistics, Trinity College Dublin. She is a co-convenor of the Centre for Research in IT and Education (CRITE). Her research interests include Computational Thinking, Computing Education, and Gender and Computing. Her current focus is on Parental Involvement in Computer Science Education.
  Computational thinking   Computer Education/Literacy   Computer-Aided Instruction   Digital Media   Educational/Instructional Technology   E-Learning   Information technology in education   Location-Aware Technologies & Urban Community   Mobile Communications   Multimedia   Teacher Education   threshold concepts
Project Title
 OurKidsCode: Establishing and sustaining family creative-coding clubs across Ireland
From
01/01/2023
To
31/12/2024
Summary
This funding supports the further expansion of the OurKidsCode project by supporting communities throughout rural Ireland to establish and run family-run coding clubs. A partnership with the Department of Rural and Community Development, provides access to over 300 Broadband Connection Points, local expertise and further funding for training and delivery, thereby embedding the programme into rural communities and providing opportunities and support for self-sustaining family STEAM activities. The infrastructure established will also be available to other providers, greatly increasing the capacity to deliver STEAM Education across Ireland.
Funding Agency
SFI
Programme
Discover
Project Type
Research
Project Title
 Pytch Phase 2: Bridging Block to Text in the Curriculum
From
01/01/2023
To
31/12/2024
Summary
Our Pytch programming environment, created with support from SFI Discover, is a system to help learners at a crucial stage in computing education. The transition from block-based programming to text-based programming is widely recognised as a challenge to learners and educators alike. Pytch's unique insight in addressing this difficulty is the preservation of the Scratch-style programming model within a Python programming environment. Our results from phase 1 indicate that we have a novel, powerful approach that can support learners more effectively than existing systems. At the same time our user engagement has revealed the need to expand the platform, in two senses, which we propose to address in Phase 2. First, we will scale up our evaluation of the core environment, among an increased geographic breadth, and diversity of users. Emerging feedback will continue to steer development, improving Pytch"s ability to support educators and learners of all types. Second, we will scale out the scope of the offering. As progress is being made in bringing computer science and coding into earlier stages of the national educational system, the blocks/text transition problem is pressing, and needs a holistic solution. Learning materials and support features built around the core Pytch environment will result in a classroom-ready framework to ease the learning pathway across this difficult transition point. Our initiative will design this framework in a co-creation process with educators and learners, ensuring that the necessary supports to retain learners in the STEM pipeline will be in place exactly when they are needed.
Funding Agency
SFI
Programme
Discover
Project Title
 Pytch: A Bridge from Block to Text Programming
From
01/01/2022
To
31/12/2022
Summary
The Pytch project aims to improve takeup of Computer Science (CS) in Ireland by smoothing the transition from 'beginner' programming environments to the mainstream tools used in later years and in industry. It will do this through the development of a new environment which brings a familiar Scratch-style programming model to the Python language. Beginner-oriented block-based programming environments are popular for introducing learners to computing and are widely used in both formal and informal settings. There is considerable evidence that students suffer a significant drop-off in engagement and confidence in their programming ability in the transition to text-based tools such as Python. Pytch will support learners at this crucial stage, where they often turn from viewing coding and CS as a fun, creative activity to seeing it as a drier and more difficult 'subject'. Learners will be able to continue using much of what they have learned through successful introductions to programming with Scratch as they move on to programming in Python. Pytch will achieve this by: (1) providing a browser-based environment that supports writing engaging multimedia content in Python, (2) retaining the Scratch programming model of Sprites and events so learners need not immediately learn an entirely new programming paradigm, and (3) providing a complete online environment, including tutorials, and other supports.
Funding Agency
SFI
Programme
Discover
Project Title
 OurKidsCode: Delivering Family Creative Coding Workshops Nationally
From
01/01/2020
To
31/12/2021
Summary
Funding was awarded for the national roll-out and evaluation of the OurKidCode programme along with further research into Parental Involvement in Computer Science education.
Funding Agency
SFI
Programme
Discover
Project Title
 OurKidsCode Phase 2: Supporting families continued engagement in computing
From
01/01/2019
To
31/12/2019
Summary
Phase 2 of the workshop extended the single-workshop model of the OurKidsCode project to encourage more sustained and deeper involvement through a 4-part workshop series and a community of practice. It involved the design, development and evaluation of this series and the expansion of the OurKidsCode offering to encourage continuing engagement and Parental Involvement in CS Education.
Funding Agency
SFI
Programme
Discover
Project Type
Research

Page 1 of 2
Details Date
Commissioned by National Council for Curriculum & Assessment (NCCA) to write a report on Computational Thinking at Primary level. 2018
External Examiner, BA Creative Digital Media, Institute of Technology Tallaght, Dublin 2007-10
External Examiner, BA Communications and Multimedia, Dublin Business School. 2006-09
Details Date From Date To
ACM SIGCSEire 2019 ongoing
Educational Studies Association of Ireland (ESAI) 2019 ongoing
Computers in Education Society of Ireland (CESI) 2013 ongoing
Computing at School (CAS) 2013 ongoing
the Institute for Systems and Technologies of Information (INSTICC) 2019 ongoing
Association for Teacher Education in Europe (ATEE) - Teacher Education and Digital Technology R&D Community 2017 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 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, Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, New York, NY, USA, 8-10 July 2024, 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
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
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
Bresnihan, N.; Strong, G.; Fisher, L.; Millwood, R. and Lynch, Á, OurKidsCode: Facilitating Families to Be Creative with Computing, Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Computer Supported Education, CSEDU 2019 : 11th International Conference on Computer Supported Education, Heraklion,Crete, May 2- May 4, 2019, 1, 2019, pp519 - 530, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED  DOI
Nina Bresnihan, Glenn Strong, Lorraine Fisher, Richard Millwood, and Áine Lynch, OurKidsCode: a National Programme to get Families Involved in CS Education, Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE '19), Aberdeen, Scotland UK, July 15-17, 2019, ACM, 2019, pp298 - 298, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED  DOI
Strong, G., Higgins, C., Bresnihan, N., Millwood, R., A Survey of the Prior Programming Experience of Undergraduate Computing and Engineering Students in Ireland, IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, World Conference on Computers in Education (WCCE), Dublin, 3-6 July 2017, edited by Tatnall A., Webb M. , 515, Springer, 2018, pp473 - 483, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED  DOI  URL
  

Page 1 of 3
Nina Bresnihan, OurKidsCode: Family Creative Coding Workshops, CoderDojo Coolest Projects, RDS, Dublin , 26 May, 2018, CoderDojo, Invited Talk, PRESENTED
Richard Millwood, Nina Bresnihan, Dermot Walsh, and Joy Hooper, Review of Literature on Computational Thinking, https://www.ncca.ie/media/3557/primary-coding_review-of-literature-on-computational-thinking.pdf, National Council for Curriculum Assessment, 2018, Notes: [Commissioned as part of the NCCA Coding in Primary Schools Initiative], Report, 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
Kirrane, R. & Bresnihan, N., The Flipped Classroom: Aligning Appropriate Strategies through Pedagogical Analysis., EdTech2014: The 15th Educational Technology Conference of the Irish Learning Technology Association (ILTA), Dublin, Ireland, May 2014, 2014, Conference Paper, PRESENTED
Moloney E. and Bresnihan, N., Can a WordPress Blog with Asynchronous Chat Aid the Motivation of Irish Oral Students?, EdTech 2013 , UCC, Cork, Ireland, 30th-31st May 2013, 2013, Conference Paper, PRESENTED
Lupton, B. and Bresnihan, N., Exploratory Case Studies at the Interface of Divergent Thinking and Online Learning, EdTech 2012: Digital Literacies for Life , NUI Maynooth, Ireland, 31 May-1 June 2012 , 2012, Conference Paper, PRESENTED

  


Award Date
NUI Postgraduate Fellowship 1993-1995
I am co-convenor of the Centre for Research in IT and Education (CRITE), a collaboration between the School of Education and the School of Computer Science and Statistics. Our research agenda includes both the exploration of how technology can be used to enhance teaching & learning and the advancement of theories, research, tools and social practices of computers in education. Current research in the Centre focuses on 3 main strands: Computing education, Technology-mediated learning, and digital competence. My research interests lie in computing education, with particular regard to gender, ethics, and inclusion. My current focus is on parental involvement in computing education and I am the PI for the Research Ireland-funded project OurKidsCode. The project began by investigating factors that impact on the quantity and quality of Parental Involvement in Primary School children's computing education. Findings have provided an evidence-base for the design of interventions to improve that involvement which are currently being rolled out nationally for evaluation. The research is being conducted in line with the College Engaged Research Framework, and as well as widespread consultation with parents, we are working with stakeholders such as our partners the National Parents Council, and the Department of Rural and Community Development.