Do Current Online Coding Tutorial Systems Address Novice Programmer Difficulties?
Ohud Abdullah Alasmari, Jeremy Singer, Mireilla Bikanga Ada · 2023
Mastering programming skills is a multifaceted challenge, particularly for novice learners. While abundant existing literature examines students’ learning obstacles and proposes potential resolutions—predominantly through questionnaire-based methodologies—this study presents a fresh perspective. This paper focuses on identifying programming learning impediments as presented in the literature, paired with an exploration of the supportive features intrinsic to online coding platforms that could potentially mitigate these difficulties. The findings reveal that several of these online coding systems lack crucial features that could effectively address the learning difficulties experienced by novice programmers. This lack stresses an urgent call to create more robust and learner-centric environments that better facilitate the acquisition of programming skills for beginners, thus bridging the identified gap in the existing pedagogical tools.