Flexible, reusable tools for studying novice programmers

  • Authors:
  • Matthew C. Jadud;Poul Henriksen

  • Affiliations:
  • Allegheny College, Meadville, PA, USA;University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom

  • Venue:
  • ICER '09 Proceedings of the fifth international workshop on Computing education research workshop
  • Year:
  • 2009

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Abstract

We would like more computer science education research studies to be easily replicable. Unfortunately, the tools used for data collection are often too specialized, unstable, or just plain unavailable for use in experimental replication. Here, we present two tools to aid in the replication and extension of existing research regarding novice programmers--or to support entirely new and unrelated enquiries. The first tool is specific to the BlueJ pedagogic programming environment, and provides a starting point for replicating or extending existing studies regarding novice programmers learning Java. The second tool is a portable, stand-alone web-server with a language-agnostic interface for storing data. The distinguishing feature of this server is that it is schema free, meaning it can easily support a wide range of data collection projects simultaneously with no reconfiguration whatsoever.