Research interests

• The automatic grading of assessments
  
• Understanding diagrams (as applied to automatic grading)
  
• Computer science education (particularly assessment systems and retention issues).

Teaching interests

• Programming languages (particularly Java and Eiffel)
• Operating Systems
• Concurrent Systems
• Requirements Engineering
• Currently Course Team Member of M883, Software Requirements for Business Systems. (Previously, Course Team Chair, 2003-08)
• Academic Editor, M891 (2009)

Internal professional activities

• Teaching Fellow (COLMSCT, CeTL)
• Member, Electronic Assignments Project Board
• Member, eAssessment Advisory Group
• Member, COLMSCT Core Advisory Group

External activities

• Validation, BSc, University of Northampton (2008)
• External Examiner, Manchester University (2008)
• Mawby Visiting Fellow, Kellogg College, Oxford University (2000-2007)
• External Examiner, Goldsmiths College, University of London (2002-2006)
• External Examiner, University College Northampton (2002-2005)
• External Examiner, University of Kent, (2000-2003)

Publications by Thomas, P. G. :

• The role of labels in the automatic assessment of graph-based diagrams. In proceedings of 23rd ICDE World Conference on Open and Distance Learning (Icdl 2009). June 8-11, 2009, Maastricht, Holland.
• Automatically assessing diagrams. In proceedings IADIS International Conference  e-Learning 2009, Algarve, Portugal, 17 - 20 June 2009.
• Generalised Diagram Revision Tools with Automatic Marking. In proceedings of 14th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE 09), July 6-9, Paris, France.
• Human Fallibility: How Well Do Human Markers Agree? ACE 2009, January 19-23, Wellington, New Zealand. In Conferences in Research and Practice in Information Technology, 95. Margaret Hamilton & Tony Clear Eds.

• Automatically assessing graph-based diagrams. J. Learning, Media and Technology, 33(03), pp. 249 - 267 [Special Issue: Reframing E-assessment: Adopting New Media and Adapting Old Frameworks].
Automatic assessment of student-drawn graph-based diagrams. e-Assessment in Practice Symposium, Shrivenham, November 2008.
• Automatic assessment of sequence diagrams. In proceedings of the 12th International Computer Assisted Assessment Conference, Ed: Farzana Khandia, Loughborough, 8-9 July 2008, pp. 319-330.
A revision tool for teaching and learning sequence diagrams. Proceedings of ED-MEDIA conference, Vienna, 30 June – 4 July, 2008, pp 5454-5460.

• Collaborative Learning in a Wiki Environment: Experiences from a software engineering course. New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia 13 (2), p187.
• Seeing the Whole Picture: Evaluating Automated Assessment Systems. ITALICS - Innovation in Teaching and Learning in Information and Computer Science, 6 (4) 2007.
• Software tools for teaching, learning and assessing diagrams. The second Open CETL Conference, “Pushing the Boundaries”, Open University, October 2007.
• Using a wiki to facilitate learning on a Requirements Engineering course. In Proceedings of the Higher Education Academy 8th Annual Conference of the Subject Centre for Information and Computer Sciences., Southampton, September 2007, 127-130.
• Collaborative learning in a wiki environment: Experiences from a Software Engineering Course. In Proceedings of ALT-C 2007, Nottingham, 4-6 September, 2007.
• Tools for learning and automatically assessing graph-based diagrams. In Research Proceedings of ALT-C 2007, Nottingham, 4-6 September, 2007, 61-74.
• Collaborative Authoring and Learning in a Wiki Environment. In Proceedings of the International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS), International e-Learning conference, 6-8 July, 2007, Lisbon, Portugal. pp. 105-109.
• ) Collaborative Requirements Development in a Wiki on a Software Engineering Course. CTSS Conference, Open University, Milton Keynes, May 1-2, 2007.
• Collaborative learning in a wiki environment: Case Study of a Software Engineering Course Proceedings of the European Distance and E-learning Network (EDEN) Annual Conference – on ‘NEW LEARNING 2.0? Emerging digital territories, Developing continuities, New divides’, 13-16 June, Naples, Italy.
• Teaching and Learning Applications Related to the Automated Interpretation of ERDs. TLAD 07, July 2007, Glasgow.
• Tools for supporting the teaching and learning of data modelling. In Proceedings of ED-MEDIA, Vancouver, Canada, 25-29 June, 2007.
• Computer Assisted Assessment of Diagrams. In Proceedings of ITiCSE, Dundee, Scotland, 25-29 June 2007.
• Collaborative requirements development in a wiki on a software engineering course, Shock of the Old 2007: Shock of the Social Conference, Oxford, 22 March 2007.
• Tuning an LSA-based Assessment System for Short Answers in the Domain of Computer Science: The Elusive Optimum Dimension. In Proceedings of the First European Workshop on Latent Semantic Analysis in Technology Enhanced Learning, March 29–30, 2007, Heerlen, NL, 22-23.
• Measuring Improvement in Latent Semantic Analysis-Based Marking Systems: Using a Computer to Mark Questions about HTML. Accepted. To appear in Proceedings of the Ninth Australasian Computing Education Conference (ACE2007). Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.

• Software Engineering at a Distance. IEEE Software November/December (2006) 36-43.
• Enhancing the assessment capabilities of the leading open source virtual learning environment. In Proceedings of 10th International CAA Conference, July 2006, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK, 366-369, 2006.
• Using Patterns in the Automatic Marking of ER-Diagrams. In Proceedings of ITiCSE ’06, June, 2006, Bologna, Italy, 403-413.
• Teaching Computing in a Blended-Learning Environment. In Proceedings of ED-MEDIA ’06, June, 2006, Orlando, Florida, USA.

• Experiments in the Automatic Marking of ER-Diagrams.
• E-Assessment using Latent Semantic Analysis
• Gathering Requirements for a Grid-based Automatic Marking System

• Evolving Legacy System Security Concerns Using Aspects
• Interpreting Imprecise Diagrams
• Toward the Automated Assessment of Entity-Relationship Diagrams
• E-Assessment using Latent Semantic Analysis in the computer science domain: A pilot study
• Performance and Support Comparisons in online and face-to-face courses
• Signposts in the Sand: Key Issues for E-Moderators
• Drawing diagrams in an online examination
• Issues of management and development in Student expectations in the Delivery of an Online Computing Course

• Comparing Modalities in Learning in Computer Science
• The Evaluation of Electronic Marking of Examinations
• Examinations in Computing over the Internet
• Student Experiences of Remote Computer-based Examinations

• Monitoring distance education students' practical programming activities
• Learning Style Preferences of Computing Students in Distance Education
• The Coach: Supporting students as they learn to program

• How students learn to program: observations of practical tasks completed
• Experiments with Electronic Examinations over the Internet
• Observational studies of student errors in a distance learning environment using a remote recording and replay tool
• Analysing user actions in a Smalltalk programming environment

• Distance education via the Internet: the students experience
• Tools for Observing Study Behaviour
• Lyceum: providing synchronous communication modes in distance learning
• Electronic Support for Computing Students at a Distance
• Lyceum: providing synchronous communication modes in distance learning
• Learning through collaboration in a distance educational environment
• Distance education via the Internet: the students experience

• Understanding the 'Electronic' Student: Analysis of Functional requirements for Distributed Education
• Studying at Home via the Internet

• A holistic approach to supporting distance learning using the Internet: transformation, not translation
• (a) Innovations in large-scale supported distance teaching: Transformation for the Internet, not just translation
• (b) Innovations in large-scale supported distance teaching: transformation for the Internet, not just translation

• Teaching over the Internet: the future

• Integrating multiple and diverse abstract knowledge types in real-time embedded systems
• An electronic student observatory

Books

• Thomas, P.G and Weedon, R. Object-Oriented Programming in Eiffel.
  Second edition, Addison-Wesley, 1997, 690pp. ISBN ISBN 0-201-33131
• Thomas, P.G., Weedon, R. and Leadbetter, P.A. Prolog: From Specification to Prototype.
  Magraw-Hill, 1991, 384pp, ISBN 0-632-03161-1
• Thomas, P.G., Robinson, H. and Emms, J. Abstract Data Types: their specification, representation and use.
  Oxford University Press, 1988, Reprinted 1990, 256pp, ISBN 0-19-859663-4
• Thomas, P.G. and Carswell, L. Computer Science Education over the Internet: The Future?
  In: Computer Science Education in the Twenty-first Century. Ed: A Greening, 215-262, Springer Verlag, 1999, ISBN 0-387-98881-5.
• Petre, M., Carswell, L., Price, B., and Thomas, P. Innovations in large-scale supported distance teaching.
  In: The Knowledge Web. Eds: Marc Eisenstadt & Tom Vincent. Kogan Page, 1998, ISBN 0-7494-2726-4.
• Thomas, P.G. Distributed Computing. In: Practical Systems Design, Eds: A.Daniels and D.A.Yeats
  Pitmans 1984, ISBN 0-273-01939.

Technical Reports by Thomas, P. G. :

• Grading Diagrams Automatically. Computing Department Research Report 2004/01
• Comparing machine graded diagrams with human markers. Computing Department Research Report 2004/27
• Electronic Assessment: Final report to e-OU on funded project, Open University, 2003
• Evolving Legacy System Security Concerns Using Aspects. Computing Department Research Report 2003/3
• EAP at the Open University
• Innovations in Large-scale Supported Distance Teaching: Transformation for the Internet, Not Just Translation
• The MZX Trials: Update April 1997
• Innovations in Large-scale Supported Distance Teaching: Transformation for the Internet, not just Translation
• Electronic Audio-graphic Tutorials: A Teacher's Perspective
• Distance Education over the Internet
• A Holistic Approach to Supporting Distance Learning Using the Internet: Transformation, not Translation
• Observing Students as They Learn to Program
• Implementing Abstract Data Tyes in Eiffel
• An Experiment in the use of Computer Algebra in the Classroom
• Express: A Computer Algebra System for Teaching
• The Software Production Game