ALT-C2012

Learning Technology Research Group

Online Learning Environments and

the Pedagogy of Computer

ProgrammingPaul Neve, David Livingstone,

Gordon Hunter, James OrwellLearning Technology Research Group

Faculty of Science, Engineering and ComputingKingston University

ALT-C2012

Learning Technology Research Group

ALT-C2012

Learning Technology Research Group

Computer programming is painful for everyone…!Students

"Programming is boring…"

"Programming is difficult…"

"I don't understand programming…"

"I'm no good at programming…"

"Can I choose a combination of modules for my computing course that doesn't involve programming…?"

Lecturers "They just don't get

programming no matter what we teach or how we teach it"

"Some students just aren't equipped to be programmers"

"They might have passed the programming modules but they've no idea how to tackle the programming component of their final year project"

ALT-C2012

Learning Technology Research Group

ALT-C2012

Learning Technology Research Group

Practical Programming A first year second semester programming module at Kingston

University Follows a first semester module that uses* Java to teach

fundamental programming concepts to beginners Sets out three aims:

To develop students' enthusiasm for practical programming To enhance students' experience with programming environments To develop students' confidence in their ability to write programs

Two flavours, one for Computer Science students, one for Information Systems students

In 2011 almost half the IS cohort failed even after resits had been taken into account

* or rather, attempts to use…

ALT-C2012

Learning Technology Research Group

ALT-C2012

Learning Technology Research Group

Enter NoobLabNoobLab: an online learning environment designed

specifically for teaching programmingSeveral "angles":

An immersive, engaging and flexibly available learning experience

Deliver some some of the feedback that a tutor might give in a programming workshop

Monitor progress, learn about how they learn, and inform the pedagogy of programming

ALT-C2012

Learning Technology Research Group

ALT-C2012

Learning Technology Research Group

NoobLab and Practical ProgrammingA holistic approach:

Module redesign – content, activities and assessment used NoobLab as the primary delivery tool

All summative assessment involved a practical programming activity within the environment: Four "Small Tests": simple programming tasks Three coursework assignments: Hangman, Tic Tac Toe and

Connect 4 One "Big Test": making live changes to the games

New features added to the environment as content dictates

Tail and dog in perfect harmony!

ALT-C2012

Learning Technology Research Group

ALT-C2012

Learning Technology Research Group

NoobLab demo

If you want to follow along…

http://nooblab.kingston.ac.uk

Username: anything you like!Password: altc2012

ALT-C2012

Learning Technology Research Group

ALT-C2012

Learning Technology Research Group

The results… 78% of students who completed a majority* of summative

assessment tasks achieved a passing grade Significant correlation between time spent in the NoobLab

environment and final grade (R = 0.749, p < 0.001) Students' end of module survey

An average 90% satisfaction factor+ about the NoobLab environment

"I did better on this module than I expected" - 83%+ NoobLab environment frequently complimented in free-text

feedback, e.g. "what was the best thing about the module?"* 4 or more of the 8 assessment tasks

+ A "satisfaction factor" was determined by giving the student a positive statement e.g. "I did better on this module than I expected to". Students assigned a mark where 1 indicated strong disagreement with the positive statement, and 5 strong agreement – i.e. higher numbers representing a better response. A maximum possible score for each based on number of responses was calculated, and the final score actually achieved is expressed as a percentage of this maximum possible.

ALT-C2012

Learning Technology Research Group

ALT-C2012

Learning Technology Research Group

Building on the experience…Teaching the skill of "thinking like a programmer is

key…" …make the learning activities more visual …avoid abstractions and examples that don't speak

students' own language (i.e. maths!)

Carol the Shopping Trolley Wielding Robot Inspired by Logo and Karel the Robot [1, 2]

New materials coming up for Practical Programming and other modules

[1] R. E. Pattis, Karel the Robot: A Gentle Introduction to the Art of Programming, 1st ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York, NY, USA, 1981.

[2] B. W. Becker, “Teaching CS1 with Karel the Robot in Java,” SIGCSE Bulletin, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 50–54, ACM, New York, USA, 2001.

ALT-C2012

Learning Technology Research Group

ALT-C2012

Learning Technology Research Group

Patterns in the chaos… Big Brother NoobLab is watching you; logs…

Navigation through learning material Interactions with learning material, e.g. responses to quiz questions Any code executed – and any errors that result Exercises attempted – and whether the criteria for the exercise was

met

Common patterns between students are already evident in this data… The "SOS" pattern The "Rosetta Stone" pattern

We expect to find more given further analysis Patterns can be used as triggers for feedback

ALT-C2012

Learning Technology Research Group

ALT-C2012

Learning Technology Research Group

The "Rosetta Stone" Pattern

#1 Student fails first attempt at Small Test 2

#2 Student goes back to lesson 2 and lesson 3 material

#3 Student goes all the way back to the lesson 1 material

#3 Still can't crack it…

#4 Student advances to lesson 4… particularly hovering around part 4 of this lesson…

#5 EUREKA!

The "Rosetta Stone" pattern happens when a student who is struggling with an exercise succeeds after examining a certain piece of content

If several students exhibit the same pattern, it might be used as a possible feedback trigger… "You seem to be having problems with this exercise… perhaps

you should check out Lesson X…" If the "Rosetta Stone" pattern is unexpected, it might also

be a trigger for a content author to re-examine the material

ALT-C2012

Learning Technology Research Group

ALT-C2012

Learning Technology Research Group

For more information Email Paul Neve

paul@kingston.ac.uk

Source code (no documentation yet, though…!) svn://wlab.paulneve.com/NoobLabPP

KU Learning Technology Research Group blog http://ltrg.kingston.ac.uk

Papers HEA STEM Conference 2012 – Developing Virtual Programming

Laboratories to Inform the Pedagogy of Programming http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/stem-conference/Computi

ng1/Paul_Neve_David_Livingstone.pdf

IC12: International Symposium on the Intelligent Campus – Nooblab: An Intelligent Learning Environment for Teaching Programming (forthcoming, December 2012)

ALT-C2012

Learning Technology Research Group

Questions…?