Simulating The Closed Laboratory Experience in an ALN Environment

1
Simulating The Closed Laboratory Experience in an
ALN Environment

• Dr. Timothy Margush
• Department of Computer Science
• The University of Akron

2
The Closed Laboratory

• Was introduced to CS curricula in mid to late
  1980s
• Has been an important component of many computer
  science courses, especially at the introductory
  level

3
The Closed Laboratory

• Offers a controlled and supervised setting where
  students could design and test small programs, or
  use prewritten programs to support experimental
  inquiries into various issues related to the
  course objectives
• Gives students the opportunity to ask for
  assistance that will enable them to continue the
  assignment

4
Definitions

• Closed laboratory
• A scheduled, structured, and supervised
  assignment that involves the use of computing
  hardware, software, or instrumentation for its
  completion
• Students complete a closed lab by attending a
  scheduled session, usually 2-3 hours long, at a
  specific facility

More
5
Definitions

• Closed laboratory
• Supervision is provided by the instructor or a
  qualified assistant who is familiar with the
  details of the assignment
• 1991 Report of the ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Curriculum
  Task Force

6
Definitions

• ALN
• Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALN) are people
  networks for anytime - anywhere learning.  In
  ALN learners use computer and communications
  technologies to work with remote learning
  resources, including coaches and other learners,
  but without the requirement to be online at the
  same time.
• The Web of Asynchronous Learning Networks

7
Conflict

• Closed laboratory
• Scheduled
• Supervised
• Specific location

• ALN
• Anytime
• Coaches not online at the same time
• Anywhere

8
The Problem

• How can we preserve the closed laboratory
  component of an introductory level programming
  course in an ALN environment?

9
Equipment
Issues

• Originally, closed labs provided access to
  hardware and software not readily available to
  students
• Now online students have access to powerful
  hardware at their access point
• Free or low-cost software is available to support
  programming tasks

10
Supervision
Issues

• Students often need help completing certain tasks
  within the assignment
• Failure to obtain immediate help may prevent them
  from completing the rest of the lab
• This is a significant problem in an ALN
  implementation of the closed laboratory experience

11
Location
Issues

• Closed labs are to be held in a specific
  location, at a scheduled time
• In an ALN, this is impossible
• Why was this a requirement?
• Provide access to equipment
• Offer immediate help when required
• Allow group interaction

12
Programmed Learning

• B. F. Skinner 1950s
• Linear
• Branching
• Applications
• Personalized System of Instruction (PSI)
• Computer Aided Instruction (CAI)
• Provided immediate and customized feedback

13
Simulating Synchronous Supervision

• Apply programmed learning techniques
• Provide a correct solution to the previous step
  or suggest resources to read more about the
  concept
• Gives immediate positive feedback if the student
  gave a correct answer
• Allows the student to continue to the next step
  without the aid of a coach

14
WebCTs Quiz Tool

• Supports the linear model of programmed
  instruction
• Does not immediately evaluate responses so
  feedback must be general in nature
• Can be used to automatically grade student
  responses for evaluation
• Some question types require manual grading

15
WebCT Quiztool

• Question types (WebCT Version 3.x)
• Multiple Choice
• Matching
• Calculated
• Short answer
• Paragraph

16
Feedback

• Feedback can be included during question
  construction
• General comments apply to all answers
• Specific answers can have individual feedback
• Feedback is not visible until all questions have
  been answered and the quiz has been submitted and
  graded

17
Tool Configuration

• To apply the linear model of programmed learning,
  the quiz should be configured to
• Present one question at a time
• Require each question to be answered or skipped
  before proceeding
• Do not allow skipped or answered questions to be
  revisited
• Necessary only if the assignment is graded

18
Typical Lab Tasks

• Demonstrate understanding of a concept introduced
  in the lab
• Record observations while performing basic
  programming tasks
• Read a program and answer questions about its
  meaning
• Modify or write a section of a program

19
Typical Lab Format

• Introduction
• Describe ideas or techniques to be practiced in
  the lab
• Program reading
• Examine an existing program and predict its
  behavior
• Syntax
• Locate and correct syntax errors

More
20
Typical Lab Format

• Semantics
• Determine the meaning of statements in a program
  possibly with the intent of correcting an error
• Analysis
• Analyze the performance of a program
• Programming
• Write code to complete a specific task

21
Problem Areas

• Syntax
• If a specific error is not located, the student
  may not be able to proceed to the next step
• Semantics
• A wrong understanding of the meaning of a
  statement may make it impossible to complete a
  critical step in the exercise
• Programming
• The rest of the exercise may depend on the
  correct completion of a programming task

22
Example

• Compile the program to discover a syntax error.
  Explain the problem and then correct the program.

• Purpose Demonstrate an understanding of the
  syntax of the language
• If the student cannot identify and correct the
  error, he/she cannot proceed to the next step

23
Example

• You should have added a semicolon to the end of
  the third statement.
• Test the corrected
• program

• The next question begins by providing the answer
  to the previous question
• Not being able to correct the error would prevent
  the student from continuing

24
Example

• Test the corrected program with input data of
  298 and 45.
• Comment on the correctness/ incorrectness of the
  results.

• Purpose Understand the semantics of a program
• This task should be straightforward to complete,
  but
• The student may not realize that the answer is
  wrong

25
Example

• When you tested the program, you should have
  noticed that the answer was off by 1. For the
  given input data, the answer should have been 16.
  

• The student is made aware that the program
  contains an error
• The error is identified as being off by one a
  hint as to the probable cause

26
Example

• Correct the program so the output is correct.

• Once the error has been identified, the student
  must discover the cause and make a correction.
  This is a programming task.

27
Example

• The for loop executed 1 too many times. One
  possible correction is for (k 1 k lt limit
  k). Be sure the program is correct before going
  on

• The next frame provides a possible solution
• Other solutions may be correct
• By copying the correct statement into the
  program, a student could continue on to the next
  step

28
Student Responses

• In regards to the HandsOn experience, these
  exercises are one of the most helpful tools to
  learn programming.
• I am most impressed with the HandsOn assignments
  in particular. They are very interactive and
  they illustrate some fundamental concepts in the
  course.

29
Conclusions

• A linear programmed learning approach can be used
  to provide some degree of asynchronous assistance
  during a typical computer science closed
  laboratory assignment
• The WebCT Quiztool can be effectively used to
  deliver these assignments

30
Conclusions

• Students value these hands on assignments
• One improvement suggested by a student
• Separate the instructions and presentation of
  ideas into a separate document, keeping the
  questions and feedback in the quiz module for
  frame by frame presentation