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Board 421: Using a Timeline of Programming Events as a Method for Understanding the Introductory Students’ Programming Process

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Conference

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Baltimore , Maryland

Publication Date

June 25, 2023

Start Date

June 25, 2023

End Date

June 28, 2023

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Tagged Topic

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Page Count

7

DOI

10.18260/1-2--42758

Permanent URL

https://strategy.asee.org/42758

Download Count

100

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Paper Authors

biography

Phyllis Jean Beck Mississippi State University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0009-0000-8699-5771

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Phyllis Beck is a blend of art and science having completed an undergraduate degree in Fine Arts at MSU and a PH.D in Computer Science where she focused on applying Artificial Intelligence, Natural language Processing and Machine Learning techniques to the engineering education space. Currently, she is working as a post-doctoral researcher at Mississippi State University in the Bagley College of Electrical and Computer Engineering. She has worked for companies such the Air Force Research Laboratory in conjunction with Oak Ridge National Labs and as an R & D Intern for Sandia National Labs conducting Natural Language Processing and AI research and was been inducted into the Bagley College of Engineering Hall of Fame in 2021.

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biography

Mahnas Jean Mohammadi-Aragh Mississippi State University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-3094-3734

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Jean Mohammadi-Aragh is the Director of Diversity Programs and Student Development for the Bagley College of Engineering and Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Mississippi State University. Through her interdependent roles in research, teaching, and service, Jean is actively breaking down academic and social barriers to foster an environment where diverse and creative people are successful in the pursuit of engineering and computing degrees. Jean’s efforts have been recognized with numerous awards including the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development award, the American Society for Engineering Education John A. Curtis Lecturer award, and the Bagley College of Engineering Service award. Jean earned her B.S. and M.S. in computer engineering from Mississippi State University, and her Ph.D. in engineering education from Virginia Tech.

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Abstract

Due to the difficulty in assessing programming skills that arise from the open-ended nature of programming, in 2017, researchers conducted a major literature review on IDE-based learning analytics. The results of this review led researchers to put forth a call to action to expand the ability of IDEs to collect and analyze different types of data. Through the development of Instrumented IDEs, we can acquire complex programming process data, however, this approach is hindered by the complexity of developing and deploying an API for multiple IDEs. This complexity and the cross-compatibility of APIs is the primary limitation in conducting cross-IDE research, followed by the inconsistent structure and collection of data and a lack of variety in the types of metrics used to instrument IDEs. In response to the call to action, we developed a web-based IDE known as the Archimedes platform for capturing flowcharts and a persistent trace of student programming and design data. Using this application, we conducted an investigation of introductory and intermediate students’ programming process patterns using the Python programming language. Student programming event data was collected based on a custom event compression system for capturing events such as CREATE, UPDATE, DELETE, RUN_SUCCESS, RUN_FAIL, and various browser-based events for detecting external behavior, such as copying and pasting from external sources. Using this data, we seek to validate an additional IDE-based metric called the Timeline of Program Development. We define this as a sequence of events for categorize programming skills by looking at students’ programming behavior and actions taken over time. A timeline of events records events such as time spent designing, writing, updating, running, or deleting code. This poster illustrates the programming process patterns captured and analyzed through the Archimedes platform. It is our hope that this data will be used as a method to better understand student’s programming behavior.

Beck, P. J., & Mohammadi-Aragh, M. J. (2023, June), Board 421: Using a Timeline of Programming Events as a Method for Understanding the Introductory Students’ Programming Process Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--42758

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