Learners' Perspectives on Learning Programming from Interactive Computer Tutors in a MOOC

Ruiqi Shen, Michael J. Lee

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

With the increasing demand for technology workers, more people are now learning to code. Many of these learners are turning to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) due to their low cost and accessibility, especially compared to attending in-person courses. However, little is known about who these users are, and what they think about the instruction provided by these systems. In this study, we conducted a qualitative analysis on 218 responses (stemming from 62 questions) on Quora about a popular MOOC called Codecademy. We found that 1) learners are primarily composed of beginners, 2) Codecademy is good at delivering web development/front end courses, 3) an interactive environment increases engagement, and 4) learners largely criticize courses as being too rigid and impractical. Based on these findings, we discuss the importance of interactive computer tutors as programming instructors and propose design features that can potentially improve learning with MOOCs.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings - 2020 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, VL/HCC 2020
EditorsMichael Homer, Felienne Hermans, Steven Tanimoto, Craig Anslow
PublisherIEEE Computer Society
ISBN (Electronic)9781728169019
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2020
Externally publishedYes
Event2020 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, VL/HCC 2020 - Virtual, Dunedin, New Zealand
Duration: Aug 10 2020Aug 14 2020

Publication series

NameProceedings of IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, VL/HCC
Volume2020-August
ISSN (Print)1943-6092
ISSN (Electronic)1943-6106

Conference

Conference2020 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, VL/HCC 2020
Country/TerritoryNew Zealand
CityVirtual, Dunedin
Period8/10/208/14/20

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Computational Theory and Mathematics
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Software

Keywords

  • Codecademy
  • Quora
  • grounded theory
  • interactive computer tutor
  • learners' view
  • programming education

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