Developing virtual programming laboratories to inform the pedagogy of programming
Paul Neve, David J. Livingstone · Research Repository (Kingston University London) · 2012
Traditional lectures are considered inadequate as a sole means of teaching computer programming, and are most commonly combined with practical workshops designed to encourage students to learn by practical experimentation. Delivering these can be difficult when faced with large cohort sizes and flexible modes of study, with deleterious effects on the crucial “learning loop” that exists between student and tutor in an ideal workshop session. NoobLab is an online environment for the delivery of computer programming workshops. The environment provides a seamless, integrated an analogue of the framing lectures, the practical workshop environment, as well as delivering the feedback component of the learning loop. The software is “aware” of a workshop’s learning objectives, providing feedback both on-demand and based on “observation” of the student’s activities. Additionally, by controlling the environment where students engage in practical tasks, students’ progress and the patterns they generate as they solve a problem can be monitored. These patterns can be correlated with other metrics and provide empirical data for investigating pedagogic issues around the teaching and learning of programming.