Determining the Effectiveness of Live Coding on Student Learning in Introductory Programming

该项目旨在通过提高学生在入门编程课程中的成功率来服务于国家利益。 教学生如何编程仍然是本科计算教育的一个重大挑战，因为入门课程的失败率仍然很高。 这个项目将测试一种常用的教学方法，称为现场编码，可以促进学生学习编程技能。当使用实时编码时，教师在课堂上在学生面前完成编程过程，教师在进行时解释他们的想法。 尽管实时编码作为一种教学技术很受欢迎，但其有效性尚未被仔细研究或与其他教学技术进行比较。这个项目将实验性地评估学生在入门编程课程中学习实时编码的有效性。 为了做到这一点，它将比较学生的学习成果时，讲座包括一个活的编码方法与静态代码的例子，而不是使用。更好地了解实时编码如何影响学生的学习，可以在编程课程中增加更有效的教学实践，这反过来又可以提高学生在入门计算机科学中的成功率。 鉴于对训练有素的计算专业人员填补高薪职位的需求日益增长，该项目有可能帮助培养一支技术能力强的劳动力队伍，并确保来自各种背景的学生都有机会从事计算职业。 之前关于实时编码的研究表明，学生喜欢实时编码，因为它是动态的，吸引了他们的注意力，并允许他们对代码本身提出“假设”问题。以前关于实时编码有效性的研究的一个主要局限性是这些研究如何评估学生的学习：评估（例如，考试，作业）主要测量学生对编程的概念性理解，但没有测量编程过程本身。为了解决这个局限性，这个项目将：1）设计和开发评估，使用学生亲自观察和集成开发环境生成的过程数据来测量编程过程;以及2）进行对照实验，研究和评估实时编码与静态代码示例对学生概念理解和编程过程的有效性。 如果支持这一假设，即现场编码有利于学生很少或没有以前的编程经验，现场编码教学法的更大实施可以支持增加学生在计算中的保留，从而增加计算机科学劳动力的多样性。 NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project aims to serve the national interest by increasing the success of students in introductory programming courses. Teaching students how to program remains a significant challenge in undergraduate computing education, as failure rates in introductory courses remain high. This project will test a commonly used teaching approach called live coding that may promote student learning of programming skills. When using live coding, instructors work through the process of programming in front of students during class, with the instructors explaining their thinking as they go. Despite the popularity of live coding as a teaching technique, its effectiveness has not been carefully studied or compared to other teaching techniques. This project will experimentally evaluate the effectiveness of live coding on student learning in an introductory programming course. To do so, it will compare student learning outcomes when lectures include a live coding approach versus when static code examples are used instead. Better understanding how live coding affects student learning could increase use of more effective teaching practices in programming classes, which in turn could increase student success in introductory computer science. Given the growing unmet need for trained computing professionals to fill well-paying positions, this project has the potential to help grow a technologically capable workforce and to ensure that students from all backgrounds have opportunities to pursue computing careers. Prior research on live coding has shown that students enjoy live coding because it is dynamic, holds their attention, and allows them to ask "what-if" questions about the code itself. A major limitation of previous studies regarding the effectiveness of live coding is how the studies assessed student learning: the assessments (e.g., exams, assignments) primarily measured students' conceptual understanding of programming, but did not measure the programming process itself. To address this limitation, this project will: 1) design and develop assessments to measure programming process using in-person student observations and process data generated by the integrated development environment; and 2) conduct controlled experiments to study and evaluate the effectiveness of live coding versus static code examples on both students’ conceptual understanding and their programming process. If the hypothesis is supported that live coding benefits students with little or no prior programming experience, greater implementation of live coding pedagogy could support increased retention of students in computing, thus increasing the diversity of the computer science workforce. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.