Overview

Teaching Interests

Algorithms, Data Structures, Web Development, Computer Organization, Computer Architecture, Computer Game Design, Software Development, Theory of Computation, Databases, and Discrete Mathematics.

Research Areas

CS Education; Measuring and analyzing evolving networks, including application-specific graphs; Collaborations in Digital Humanities; Algorithms; Network Analysis; Theory of Computation; Data Science; and Computer Architecture.

Email Policy

It is my goal to focus time on answering emails between 9am-10am and 2pm-3pm during the week (Monday through Friday).

Spring 2025

This semester, I am teaching:

Undergraduate Research

I am currently looking for undergraduate researchers!

Spring-Summer 2025

ARTCE: Archival Repository for Computing Education Tools

This project, following on the “Stop Reinventing the Wheel!” working group, seeks to develop an archival-quality repository for tools written for Computing Education (and CS-Ed Research). We are still in the early stages of development, but I do have some part-time funding to support development through July 2025.

Background knowledge that may be helpful

PHP, SQL database
Git
Docker

ASCI: AI-Smart Classroom Initiative (@UVA)

We’re working on making large classrooms better (see ASCI paper below) by combining office hour queues, smart grouping, LLMs, as well as ways to help instructors track student progress and help those who may be falling behind get the support they need.

Background knowledge that may be helpful

PHP, SQL database
React, JavaScript
Docker
Statistical analysis methods

Interesting research directions

How do students use the queue?
How helpful is grouping? How can we make grouping better / more helpful?
How can we use LLMs in this process? Especially local LLMs?
How can we best incentivize students to engage with course resources?

More information coming soon

Other Projects

I’m also interested in a variety of other project topics, which can be student-driven. If you have interesting ideas on connecting CS and Humanities, understanding how netowrks evolve, or improving CS education, please feel free to reach out! See my Research Areas page for more topics I’ve worked on with students.

Some interesting research directions

How do students organize and work together when provided the opportunity to collaborate? Can we improve collaboration?
How do students perceive academic integrity policies? How do LLMs factor into these policies?
Using LLMs, NLP, and other techniques to process novels, stories?
…

Selected Publications and Talks

Nada Basit, Mark Floryan, John R. Hott, Allen Huo, Jackson Le, and Ivan Zheng. 2025. ASCI: AI-Smart Classroom Initiative. In Proceedings of the 56th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE 2025). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA.

Barrett Ruth, John R. Hott. 2025. Auto-grading in Computing Education: Perceptions and Use. In Proceedings of the 56th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE 2025). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA.

Alice Wanner, Ryan Lenfant, Thomas Lam, Michelle Cheng, John R. Hott, and Raymond Pettit. 2024. Office Hours and Online Forum Engagement in Introductory CS Courses. 54th Annual Frontiers in Education. Washington, DC, USA.

John R. Hott. 2024. Analyzing Student Performance with Free Late Submission Days. In Proceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 1 (SIGCSE 2024). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.1145/3626253.3635562

Ryan Lenfant, Alice Wanner, John R. Hott, and Raymond Pettit. 2023. Project-Based and Assignment-Based Courses: A Study of Piazza Engagement and Gender in Online Courses. In Proceedings of the 2023 Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 1 (ITiCSE 2023). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 138–144. https://doi.org/10.1145/3587102.3588833

Jeremiah Blanchard, John R. Hott, Vincent Berry, Rebecca Carroll, Bob Edmison, Richard Glassey, Oscar Karnalim, Brian Plancher, and Seán Russell. 2022. Stop Reinventing the Wheel! Promoting Community Software in Computing Education. In Proceedings of the 2022 Working Group Reports on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE-WGR '22). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 261–292. https://doi.org/10.1145/3571785.3574129

Angela A. Siegel, Mark Zarb, Bedour Alshaigy, Jeremiah Blanchard, Tom Crick, Richard Glassey, John R. Hott, Celine Latulipe, Charles Riedesel, Mali Senapathi, Simon, and David Williams. 2022. Teaching through a Global Pandemic: Educational Landscapes Before, During and After COVID-19. In Proceedings of the 2021 Working Group Reports on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE-WGR '21). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1145/3502870.3506565

Xinyue Lin, James Connors, Chang Lim, and John R. Hott. 2021. How Do Students Collaborate? Analyzing Group Choice in a Collaborative Learning Environment. In Proceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE '21). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 212–218. https://doi.org/10.1145/3408877.3432389

Adrian Thinnyun, Ryan Lenfant, Raymond Pettit, and John R. Hott. 2021. Gender and Engagement in CS Courses on Piazza. In Proceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE '21). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 438–444. https://doi.org/10.1145/3408877.3432395