License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (CC BY 3.0)
When quoting this document, please refer to the following
DOI: 10.4230/OASIcs.ICPEC.2020.24
URN: urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-123117
URL: http://dagstuhl.sunsite.rwth-aachen.de/volltexte/2020/12311/
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Simões, Alberto ; Queirós, Ricardo

On the Nature of Programming Exercises

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OASIcs-ICPEC-2020-24.pdf (0.3 MB)

Abstract

There are countless reasons cited in scientific studies to explain the difficulties in programming learning. The reasons range from the subject’s complexity, the ineffective teaching and study methods, to psychological aspects such as demotivation. Still, learning programming often boils down to practice on exercise solving. Hence, it is essential to understand that the nature of a programming exercise is an important factor for the success and consistent learning.
This paper explores different approaches on the creation of a programming exercise, starting with realizing how it is currently formalized, presented and evaluated. From there, authors suggest variations that seek to broaden the way an exercise is solved and, with this diversity, increase student engagement and learning outcome. The several types of exercises presented can use gamification techniques fostering student motivation. To contextualize the student with his peers, we finish presenting metrics that can be obtained by existing automatic assessment tools.

BibTeX - Entry

@InProceedings{simes_et_al:OASIcs:2020:12311,
  author =	{Alberto Sim{\~o}es and Ricardo Queir{\'o}s},
  title =	{{On the Nature of Programming Exercises}},
  booktitle =	{First International Computer Programming Education Conference (ICPEC 2020)},
  pages =	{24:1--24:9},
  series =	{OpenAccess Series in Informatics (OASIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-153-5},
  ISSN =	{2190-6807},
  year =	{2020},
  volume =	{81},
  editor =	{Ricardo Queir{\'o}s and Filipe Portela and M{\'a}rio Pinto and Alberto Sim{\~o}es},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl--Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/opus/volltexte/2020/12311},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-123117},
  doi =		{10.4230/OASIcs.ICPEC.2020.24},
  annote =	{Keywords: Programming Exercises, Computer Science, Automatic Evaluation, Programming Challenges}
}

Keywords: Programming Exercises, Computer Science, Automatic Evaluation, Programming Challenges
Collection: First International Computer Programming Education Conference (ICPEC 2020)
Issue Date: 2020
Date of publication: 15.06.2020

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