research-article

Improving complex task performance using a sequence of simple practice tasks

Authors:

Paul Denny,

Andrew Luxton-Reilly,

Michelle Craig,

Andrew PetersenAuthors Info & Claims

ITiCSE 2018: Proceedings of the 23rd Annual ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education

Pages 4 - 9

https://doi.org/10.1145/3197091.3197141

Published: 02 July 2018 Publication History

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Abstract

Online coding tools are an increasingly common feature of programming courses, providing students with rapid feedback and flexible practice opportunities and providing instructors with useful analytics. However, little research has explored the complexity of online exercises provided to students and the order in which students are exposed to new ideas. In this paper, we investigate the benefits of using a short sequence of practice exercises, each targeting a distinct topic, prior to having students solve a goal task that combines the concepts. As expected, we find students solve the goal task with fewer errors and in less time after completing the practice tasks. However, we also find that the practice tasks reduce the likelihood of students delaying work on the goal task, and these effects are particularly large for less-experienced students.

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Cited By

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Chiu MMoss ERichards TStephenson BStone JBattestilli LRebelsky SShoop L(2024)Effect of Deadlines on Student Submission Timelines and Success in a Fully-Online Self-Paced CourseProceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3626252.3630837(207-213)Online publication date: 7-Mar-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626252.3630837
Conde JLópez-Pernas SBarra ESaqr MHong JPark J(2024)The Temporal Dynamics of Procrastination and its Impact on Academic Performance: The Case of a Task-oriented Programming CourseProceedings of the 39th ACM/SIGAPP Symposium on Applied Computing10.1145/3605098.3636072(48-55)Online publication date: 8-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3605098.3636072
Malone MMonrose FLaakso MMonga MSimon Sheard J(2023)More Carrot or Less Stick: Organically Improving Student Time Management With Practice Tasks and Gamified AssignmentsProceedings of the 2023 Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3587102.3588825(278-284)Online publication date: 29-Jun-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3587102.3588825
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Index Terms

Improving complex task performance using a sequence of simple practice tasks
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education

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Published In

ITiCSE 2018: Proceedings of the 23rd Annual ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education

July 2018

394 pages

ISBN:9781450357074

DOI:10.1145/3197091

General Chairs:
Irene Polycarpou
UCLan Cyprus, Cyprus
,
Janet C. Read
UCLan, UK
,
Program Chairs:
Panayiotis Andreou
Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus
,
Michal Armoni
Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

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Published: 02 July 2018

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Chiu MMoss ERichards TStephenson BStone JBattestilli LRebelsky SShoop L(2024)Effect of Deadlines on Student Submission Timelines and Success in a Fully-Online Self-Paced CourseProceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3626252.3630837(207-213)Online publication date: 7-Mar-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626252.3630837
Conde JLópez-Pernas SBarra ESaqr MHong JPark J(2024)The Temporal Dynamics of Procrastination and its Impact on Academic Performance: The Case of a Task-oriented Programming CourseProceedings of the 39th ACM/SIGAPP Symposium on Applied Computing10.1145/3605098.3636072(48-55)Online publication date: 8-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3605098.3636072
Malone MMonrose FLaakso MMonga MSimon Sheard J(2023)More Carrot or Less Stick: Organically Improving Student Time Management With Practice Tasks and Gamified AssignmentsProceedings of the 2023 Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3587102.3588825(278-284)Online publication date: 29-Jun-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3587102.3588825
Leinonen JHellas AEdwards JLaakso MMonga MSimon Sheard J(2023)Seeing Program Output Improves Novice Learning GainsProceedings of the 2023 Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3587102.3588796(180-186)Online publication date: 29-Jun-2023
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Denny PBecker BLeinonen JPrather JLaakso MMonga MSimon Sheard J(2023)Chat Overflow: Artificially Intelligent Models for Computing Education - renAIssance or apocAIypse?Proceedings of the 2023 Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3587102.3588773(3-4)Online publication date: 29-Jun-2023
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Simon Sheard JLuxton-Reilly ASzabo C(2023)Computing Education Research in AustralasiaPast, Present and Future of Computing Education Research10.1007/978-3-031-25336-2_17(373-394)Online publication date: 5-Jan-2023
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25336-2_17
Castro FLeinonen JHellas A(2022)Experiences With and Lessons Learned on Deadlines and Submission BehaviorProceedings of the 22nd Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research10.1145/3564721.3564728(1-13)Online publication date: 17-Nov-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3564721.3564728
Pesonen HHellas A(2022)Weekly Fluctuations in Motivation in Introductory ProgrammingProceedings of the 2022 Conference on United Kingdom & Ireland Computing Education Research10.1145/3555009.3555012(1-7)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2022
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Häkkinen JIhantola PLuukkainen MLeinonen ALeinonen J(2021)Persistence of Time Management Behavior of Students and Its Relationship with Performance in Software ProjectsProceedings of the 17th ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research10.1145/3446871.3469767(92-100)Online publication date: 16-Aug-2021
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Denny PWhalley JLeinonen J(2021)Promoting Early Engagement with Programming Assignments Using Scheduled Automated FeedbackProceedings of the 23rd Australasian Computing Education Conference10.1145/3441636.3442309(88-95)Online publication date: 2-Feb-2021
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Developing Assessments to Determine Mastery of Programming Fundamentals

Developing Assessments to Determine Mastery of Programming Fundamentals

The Compound Nature of Novice Programming Assessments

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