Programming Tutoring Systems evaluation Boro Jakimovski Anastas Misev Institute of Informatics Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics University “Ss Cyril and Methodius” Skopje, Macedonia

Agenda Programming tutoring Jeliot Final notes

Programming tutoring systems Introduction to programming can be a very difficult mental task for students Ease the process of learning Especially in learning OOP Various tools and tutoring systems Focusing on different aspects of programming Some are general, some very specific

Reviewed systems ICALT 2001 Teresa Hubscher-Younger, N. Hari Narayanan – “How Undergraduate Students’ Learning Strategy and Culture Effects Algorithm Animation Use and Interpretation” Hiroshi Matsuda, Yoshiaki Shindo – “Effect of using Computer Graphics Animation in Programming Education” Georgios Evangelidis, Vassilios Dagdilelis, Maria Satratzemi, Vassilios Efopoulos – “X-Compiler: Yet Another Integrated Novice Programming Environment” ICALT 2003 Jirarat Sitthiworachart, Mike Joy – “Web-Based Peer Assessment in Learning Computer Programming” Satratzemi M., Xinogalos S., Dagdilelis V. – “An Environment for Teaching Object-Oriented Programming: ObjectKarel” Gogoulou A., Gouli E., Grigoriadou M., Samarakou M. – “Exploratory + Collaborative Learning in Programming: A Framework for the Design of Learning Activities” Zikouli K., Kordaki M., Houstis E. – “A Multiple Representational Environment for Learning Programming and C” Efopoulos V., Evangelidis G., Dagdilelis V., Kaskalis T. – “WIPE-A Model for a Web-based Database-driven Environment for Teaching Programming” Edward R. Sykes – “An Intelligent Tutoring System Prototype for Learning to Program JavaTM” JELIOT

ICALT 2001 Teresa Hubscher-Younger, N. Hari Narayanan – “How Undergraduate Students’ Learning Strategy and Culture Effects Algorithm Animation Use and Interpretation” Survey of strategies for teaching programming and algorithms for under- graduate students Question? Do students manage to learn more by using toos or by studying from textbooks Conclusions Algorithm animation hasn’t proven to increase student learning capabilities Main problem lies in unclear representation of certain algorithm features using animation (a lot of the students conclusions were wrong Group-work Synchronization between tools, lectures and textbooks

ICALT 2001 Hiroshi Matsuda, Yoshiaki Shindo – “Effect of using Computer Graphics Animation in Programming Education” Strategy for teaching elementary programming using “Program Reading Practice” and “Program Re-Write Practice” Usage of Computer Graphics Animation programs written in WinTK Giving students functional programs to understand Engaging them in a game of expanding and modification of them to satisfy new needs

ICALT 2001 Georgios Evangelidis, Vassilios Dagdilelis, Maria Satratzemi, Vassilios Efopoulos – “X-Compiler: Yet Another Integrated Novice Programming Environment” New simple programming language called X together with the X-Compiler Common environment for edit, compile, debug and run Features: Users can watch immediate steps of execution of a program (compilation, correspondence of code and assembly code, variable values...) Provides messages for novice programmers helping them in debugging their programs and helping them write better ones

ICALT 2003 Jirarat Sitthiworachart, Mike Joy – “Web-Based Peer Assessment in Learning Computer Programming” Peer Assessment represents a process of cross student evaluation The emphasis is not primarily on the evaluation but on learning Student think more deeply See how others tackle problems Learn to criticize constructively The authors present us a web based system for peer assessment in computer programming class

ICALT 2003 Satratzemi M., Xinogalos S., Dagdilelis V. – “An Environment for Teaching Object-Oriented Programming: ObjectKarel” Programming environment for introduction to object- oriented programming through a microworld based on Karel++ (moving robots) Features Series of e-lessons Special kind of structure editor Runtime error detection Execution animation Recording of students actions

ICALT 2003 Gogoulou A., Gouli E., Grigoriadou M., Samarakou M. – “Exploratory + Collaborative Learning in Programming: A Framework for the Design of Learning Activities” Based on the “Learning-for-use” idea Three step process Motivation to aquire knowledge Knowledge construction by Exploring+Collaborating Applying-Refining knowledge Experimental evaluation Focused on one specific subject Satisfactory results

ICALT 2003 Zikouli K., Kordaki M., Houstis E. – “A Multiple Representational Environment for Learning Programming and C” Learning environment using geometrical object representation Providing opportunities to express problem solving strategies in multiple representation systems solve a variety of familiar and meaningful problems overcome the cognitive load of the syntactical rules of programming in C by using appropriately designed computer-based authoring tools. Representations Drawing – visual representation Free text Text using imperative and specific expressions Pseudo code C Graphical output

ICALT 2003 Efopoulos V., Evangelidis G., Dagdilelis V., Kaskalis T. – “WIPE-A Model for a Web-based Database-driven Environment for Teaching Programming” Teaching basic principles of programming Built around a special compiler (Pascal, but open for other languages) Translate from high level language to pseudo assembler Database for storing intermediate results Tool for automatic testing and grading of the programming exercises User, file and group management features

ICALT 2003 Edward R. Sykes – “An Intelligent Tutoring System Prototype for Learning to Program Java TM ” (not available on line) Programming tutor for the first Java course Collection of information: the problem statement, the problem specification, student’s code, the established student model, the expert model, the Java TM Parser, the syntactic_decision_tree, the semantic_decision_tree, the Java TM Parse Tree, the output from the Java TM compiler, and the result from the Java TM runtime engine.

JELIOT Jeliot family is designed to aid students to learn programming in Java Uses ”Program Animation” – that show the execution of a program by means of a multimedia display. The tool can be used for: For lectures Assessment Interactive laboratory sessions Virtual courses Future development Collaborative Program Visualization

JELIOT

Final notes Programming tutoring systems prove to be useful There is no best solution Trends toward web based systems Using AI to help ease the process