Novice - Expert Pair Coaching
Fatemeh Mardi, Keith Miller, Phyllis Balcerzak · 2021
Novice-Expert Pair Coaching (NEPC) is an approach to synchronously teach programming online. A computer programming educator (the expert) and an individual without prior programming experience (the novice) team up while students observe as the novice learns to code. We call NEPC a 'do-aloud,' technique, as the novice verbalizes while carrying out the expert's instructions. This approach was developed to teach Python to rising 8th and 9th grade girls using Zoom. The novice assertively asked clarifying questions, experimented with newly-learned knowledge, and confirmed her new understandings. By being public learners, the novice modeled active learning, and the expert improved his teaching after learning of ambiguity and gaps in his instructions.