Privately Executable Examples
Viraj Kumar · 2022
Executable examples enable students to check their comprehension of programming problems at any time before, during, or after implementation. Students express their understanding of a problem by specifying input-output pairs, and they receive immediate feedback on their understanding when these pairs are executed against correct and buggy solutions specified by the instructor. These solutions are typically executed on a server, and we find evidence that some students in an introductory programming course are wary of revealing their fragile problem comprehension in exchange for feedback. We propose a student-side mechanism that enables students to receive the same feedback privately. We also conduct a study to investigate differences in student ability to create valid and thorough examples using the server-side or the student-side feedback mechanisms.