Design and Evaluation of a Programming Tutor Based on an Instant Messaging Interface

Claudio Alvarez; Luis A. Rojas; Juan de Dios Valenzuela

doi:10.1007/978-3-031-05064-0_1

Design and Evaluation of a Programming Tutor Based on an Instant Messaging Interface

Claudio Alvarez^*, Luis A. Rojas, Juan de Dios Valenzuela

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Conference article › peer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Computer programming skills are essential for a variety of disciplines in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). To support learning of programming in personalized ways, Programming Tutors (PTs) have been utilized in higher education contexts for decades. However, implementation of PTs with mobile devices has remained unexplored from both design and adoption standpoints. In this research, we designed, implemented, and trialled a PT based on Telegram Messenger. The tutor was introduced to a cohort of engineering freshmen (N= 227 ) in a computer programming course; however, it was introduced as an optional learning tool with no extrinsic incentives for fostering its adoption. Under these conditions, students’ activity with the tool was monitored for 11 days. A total of 99 students (44.7 % ) chose to use the tutor and did so at least once. In average, students who used the tutor solved 9.2 tasks out of a maximum of 18 (SD= 5.49 ). The use of notifications was found highly influential to motivate tutor use: within 3 days of a student receiving a reminder notification, 80.6% of responses to tasks were registered. The tutor scored a mean of 73.8 (SD= 13.81 ) in the Systems Usability Scale. Students suggestions for improvement emphasized the need for more elaborate feedback after submitting their responses to problems and leveling of task difficulty. Regarding the tutor’s best features, mobility and ease of use of the interface were found the most prominent.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	3-20
Number of pages	18
Journal	Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05064-0_1
State	Published - 2022
Event	14th International Conference on Social Computing and Social Media, SCSM 2022 Held as Part of the 24th HCI International Conference, HCII 2022 - Virtual, Online Duration: 26 Jun 2022 → 1 Jul 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Keywords

Instant messaging
Programming tutor
User study

Access to Document

10.1007/978-3-031-05064-0_1

Cite this

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title = "Design and Evaluation of a Programming Tutor Based on an Instant Messaging Interface",

abstract = "Computer programming skills are essential for a variety of disciplines in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). To support learning of programming in personalized ways, Programming Tutors (PTs) have been utilized in higher education contexts for decades. However, implementation of PTs with mobile devices has remained unexplored from both design and adoption standpoints. In this research, we designed, implemented, and trialled a PT based on Telegram Messenger. The tutor was introduced to a cohort of engineering freshmen (N= 227 ) in a computer programming course; however, it was introduced as an optional learning tool with no extrinsic incentives for fostering its adoption. Under these conditions, students{\textquoteright} activity with the tool was monitored for 11 days. A total of 99 students (44.7 \% ) chose to use the tutor and did so at least once. In average, students who used the tutor solved 9.2 tasks out of a maximum of 18 (SD= 5.49 ). The use of notifications was found highly influential to motivate tutor use: within 3 days of a student receiving a reminder notification, 80.6\% of responses to tasks were registered. The tutor scored a mean of 73.8 (SD= 13.81 ) in the Systems Usability Scale. Students suggestions for improvement emphasized the need for more elaborate feedback after submitting their responses to problems and leveling of task difficulty. Regarding the tutor{\textquoteright}s best features, mobility and ease of use of the interface were found the most prominent.",

keywords = "Instant messaging, Programming tutor, User study",

author = "Claudio Alvarez and Rojas, \{Luis A.\} and \{de Dios Valenzuela\}, Juan",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.; 14th International Conference on Social Computing and Social Media, SCSM 2022 Held as Part of the 24th HCI International Conference, HCII 2022 ; Conference date: 26-06-2022 Through 01-07-2022",

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Design and Evaluation of a Programming Tutor Based on an Instant Messaging Interface. / Alvarez, Claudio; Rojas, Luis A.; de Dios Valenzuela, Juan.
In: Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), 2022, p. 3-20.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Conference article › peer-review

TY - JOUR

T1 - Design and Evaluation of a Programming Tutor Based on an Instant Messaging Interface

AU - Alvarez, Claudio

AU - Rojas, Luis A.

AU - de Dios Valenzuela, Juan

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N2 - Computer programming skills are essential for a variety of disciplines in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). To support learning of programming in personalized ways, Programming Tutors (PTs) have been utilized in higher education contexts for decades. However, implementation of PTs with mobile devices has remained unexplored from both design and adoption standpoints. In this research, we designed, implemented, and trialled a PT based on Telegram Messenger. The tutor was introduced to a cohort of engineering freshmen (N= 227 ) in a computer programming course; however, it was introduced as an optional learning tool with no extrinsic incentives for fostering its adoption. Under these conditions, students’ activity with the tool was monitored for 11 days. A total of 99 students (44.7 % ) chose to use the tutor and did so at least once. In average, students who used the tutor solved 9.2 tasks out of a maximum of 18 (SD= 5.49 ). The use of notifications was found highly influential to motivate tutor use: within 3 days of a student receiving a reminder notification, 80.6% of responses to tasks were registered. The tutor scored a mean of 73.8 (SD= 13.81 ) in the Systems Usability Scale. Students suggestions for improvement emphasized the need for more elaborate feedback after submitting their responses to problems and leveling of task difficulty. Regarding the tutor’s best features, mobility and ease of use of the interface were found the most prominent.

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JO - Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)

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Y2 - 26 June 2022 through 1 July 2022

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