1. The Next Generation of Practice Exercises for Computer Science I Amruth N. Kumar Ramapo College of New Jersey amruth@ramapo.edu CCLI 0817187

2. Practice Exercise Software  Problets (www.problets.org) Adaptive practice Simulative feedback Maximize learning; minimize time and effort  Codelets (www.codelets.org) Immediate feedback Feedback based on source code, not testing Reinforces good programming practices

3. Development Outcome – Problets Completed (C/C++/Java/C#) Arithmetic√if/if-else√Functions√ Relational√switch√Arrays√ Logical√while√Pointers√ Assignment√do-while√Classes Bit-wise√for√Inheritance Adv loops√Polymorphism Database support

4. Formative Evaluation Outcome – Publications on Effective Features  2011: [ITiCSE], [AI-ED], [FIE]  2010: FIE, ITS, ITiCSE  2009: FIE, ITiCSE, FLAIRS, SIGCSE  2008: FIE

5. Dissemination Outcome – Usage since Spring 2008 Semesters UsedNumber of Adopters 167 221 312 43 53 61 74

6. Built-in Data Collection  Registration  Pre-Survey/Pre-Quiz  Tutoring Pretest Adaptive Practice Adaptive Post-test  Post-Survey/Post-Quiz  Feedback

7. Summative Evaluation Outcome – Ability to Program  PreQuiz – Tutor – PostQuiz  Each quiz contains: 1 control problem on unrelated topic 1 experimental problem on related topic  Evaluation in progress Data being collected

8. Key Finding: Error-Flagging  Error-flagging = Error detection, but no error-correction support  Error-flagging support provided during tests helps improve score [ITS 2010]: Less time spent considering false positives [Communicated] Trial and Error approach to answering  Even when not multiple-choice

9. Key Finding: Stereotype Threat  Stereotype threat: Students test to their negative stereotype when reminded of it  Applies to online testing in Computer Science [FIE 2010] Applies to all demographic groups, not just female/minority students [Communicated]

10. Key Finding: Evaluating Educational Interventions  Demographic group basis: sex, race, status, major  Response to an educational intervention is not homogeneous within a demographic group [ITiCSE 2010]  Must consider interactions within demographic groups (e.g., male vs female freshmen)

11. Key Finding: Reflection  Reflection: Identifying the concept underlying a problem after solving it  Reflection does not promote greater or faster learning [FLAIRS 2009] Could be because problets already promote deep learning.

12. Key Finding: Animation  Animation: 1 picture = 1000 words 1 animation = 1000 pictures  Animation helps learning [SIGCSE 2009] But, no more effective than text explanation!  Even though it is more expensive to produce

13. Visualization of Data flow

14. Problet on Expression Evaluation

15. Problet on Debugging

16. Problet on Predicting the Output

17. Problet on the State of a Variable