Researcher

Dr Jake Renzella

My Expertise

Computer Science Education, Educational Technology, Learning Analytics, AI in Education

Keywords

Fields of Research (FoR)

Artificial intelligence, Computing education, Education systems, Education assessment and evaluation, Learning analytics, Stochastic analysis and modelling

Biography

I am a Lecturer and Co-Head of the Computing and Education research group in the School of Computer Science Engineering at UNSW. My research is at the intersection of novel software and artificial intelligence-based systems applications and world-class computing education. AI Education systems should genuinely enhance student engagement and improve learning experiences in computing education. My work has been published in premier conferences...view more

I am a Lecturer and Co-Head of the Computing and Education research group in the School of Computer Science Engineering at UNSW. My research is at the intersection of novel software and artificial intelligence-based systems applications and world-class computing education. AI Education systems should genuinely enhance student engagement and improve learning experiences in computing education. My work has been published in premier conferences and journals such as the International Conference on Software Engineering. More importantly, it is embedded in open-source education projects such as SplashKit, and notably, Formatif, used at several Australian and New Zealand universities with over 230,000 students.

I also work in higher education's academic integrity, focusing on student-friendly approaches to retaining integrity. I am an:

Previously, I was a Research Fellow at the Applied Artificial Intelligence Institute (A²I²) in Defence, working on stochastic system modelling and insight generation, and has many years of experience teaching a wide range of computing courses at various universities in Australia.


My Grants

  • Google Award for Inclusion Research Program - $100,000
  • UNSW EFFECT Grant - $15,000
  • UNSW EF Grant - $30,000
  • Google CS4HS 2018 Grant, Deakin University - $15,000
  • Google CS4HS 2017 Grant, Swinburne University of Technology - $15,000
  • Google CS4HS 2016 Grant, Swinburne University of Technology - $10,000

My Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy (Information Technology)
  • Bachelor of Information Technology (Honours)
  • Bachelor of Science (Computer Science)

My Awards

  • UNSW Engineering Faculty Education Award, 2023
  • UNSW Teaching Excellence Award, 2022

My Research Activities

  • Renzella, J., Cain, A., & Schneider, J.G. (2021). Real Talk: Illuminating Online Student Understanding with Authentic Discussion Tools. In Proceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (pp. 886–892).
  • Renzella, J., & Cain, A. (2020). Enriching programming student feedback with audio comments. In 2020 IEEE/ACM 42nd International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering Education and Training (ICSE-SEET) (pp. 173–183).
  • Renzella, J., Tubino, L., Cain, A., & Schneider, J.G. (2021). Enhancing Online Education with Intelligent Discussion Tools. COVID-19 and Education: Learning and Teaching in a Pandemic-Constrained Environment, 97.
  • Renzella, J., & Cain, A. (2017). Supporting better formative feedback in task-oriented portfolio assessment. In 2017 IEEE 6th International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering (TALE) (pp. 360–367).
  • Renzella, J., Cain, A., & Schneider, J.G. (2020). An intelligent tool for combatting contract cheating behaviour by facilitating scalable student-tutor discussions. In Proceedings of the ACM/IEEE 42nd International Conference on Software Engineering: Companion Proceedings (pp. 298–299).
  • Meyers, J., Cain, A., Renzella, J., & Cummaudo, A. (2018). A Proposal for Integrating Gamification into Task-Oriented Portfolio Assessment. In 2018 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering (TALE) (pp. 1022–1027).
  • Renzella, J., Cummaudo, A., Cain, A., Grundy, J., & Meyers, J. (2018). SplashKit: A development framework for motivating and engaging students in introductory programming. In 2018 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering (TALE) (pp. 40–47).

My Research Supervision


Areas of supervision

Computer Science Education, Educational Technology, Learning Analytics, AI in Education


Currently supervising

  • Bansri Mohdi, PhD Co-Supervisor
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Location

Contact

+61-2-9348 0605