The effect of online collaborative programming on conceptual and practical skills

Sankaranarayanan, S. An, M., Hasan, S., Kandimalla, S. et al.

We study the effect of online collaborative programming using a paradigm called Online Programming Exercises (OPE) adapted from an emerging practice of team-based software development from industry.  In an experiment with 128 students participating either in an individual, pair, or group condition we measured each students’ conceptual knowledge of subject matter before and after the completion of the OPE session as well as performance on a practical hands-on assessment.  Across the two OPEs, students who worked collaboratively performed better at the practical assessment than students who had worked individually, even after factoring out the effect of prior conceptual knowledge. In terms of pre to post test conceptual knowledge, we see no difference in gains across conditions. Students in the group condition valued the experience of problem-solving and debugging in teams, attributing the experience gained as needed for industry preparation.

Sreecharan Sankaranarayanan, Language Technologies Institute
Marshall An, Computer Science Department
Sahil Hasan, Computer Science Department
Siddharth Kandimalla, Computer Science Department
Carolyn Rosé, Language Technologies Institute
Michael Hilton, Institute for Software Research
Majd Sakr, Computer Science Department