Pair Programming in the Classroom · 2017-06-28 · Pair Programming Definition •"Pair...
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Pair Programming in the Classroom Mark Sherriff University of Virginia June 28, 2017 Some material courtesy of Laurie Williams, NCSU Tapestry 2016
Transcript of Pair Programming in the Classroom · 2017-06-28 · Pair Programming Definition •"Pair...
PairProgrammingintheClassroom
MarkSherriffUniversityofVirginia
June28,2017
SomematerialcourtesyofLaurieWilliams,NCSU
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Overview• WhatexactlyisPairProgramming?• TheCaseforPairProgramming• TheCosts• Guidelinesforasuccessfulpairingexperience• MythsandLegends• Resources
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PairProgrammingDefinition• "Pairprogrammingisastyleofprogramminginwhichtwoprogrammersworkside-by-sideatonecomputer,continuouslycollaboratingonthesamedesign,algorithm,code,ortest."– LaurieWilliams
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SlightlyAlteredDefinition• "Pairprogrammingisastyleofprogramminginwhichtwoprogrammersworkside-by-sideatonecomputer,continuouslycollaboratingonthesamedesignoralgorithm."(emphasismine)
• Basicidea:IDE’shelpuscode– peoplehelpusdesign!
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WhyPairProgramming?• Pairprogrammingstudentstendto:
– Makeitthroughthefirstclass– Improvesretention– Increasesprogrammingconfidence– Performcomparablyorbetteronexamsandprojects
– Performjustfineinfuturesoloprogramming– Helpcreatepeergroups
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WhyPairProgramming?• Aninstantsupportsystem
– Wehavefoundthatpairingcutsdownonalargenumberofthe"trivial" questions(syntax,assignmentclarification,etc.)andafairnumberofthemorecomplexquestions(debugging,etc.)
– WehavebeenabletoreducethenumberofTAsforsomecourses
– Instructorofficehoursaremuchquieter,andtheinstructorcanspendmoretimewithstudentsthatneedmorehelp
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WhyPairProgramming?• Sometimesitis anumbersgame• Inalabof40students…
– having20pairsmakesiteasierforTAstogettoeveryone
– 20assignmentsareeasier/fastertogradethan40• OurmainCS1coursehasonaverage500studentsasemester…
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TheRoles• TheDriver
– Thepersonwith"control" ofthecomputer– Doesthebulkofthetyping
• TheNavigator– Activelyfollowsalongwiththedriverwithcomments
– Cantakeoveratanytime• Howdoesthistranslatetopairdesign?
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Partnersvs.PairProgramming• HowisPairProgrammingdifferentthanjusthavingpartnerassignments?– Mentalityofhowtoapproachtheassignment
• Partnering:– "YougodothispartandI’llgodothispartandthenwe’ll putitbacktogether."
• PairProgramming:– "Let’sfirstdothisparttogether,thenwe’lltackletherest."
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Partnersvs.PairProgramming• Thedistinctionmatters!• Itmattersto:
– Instructors– TeachingAssistants/Tutors– Students
• Callitframing,perception,spin…whatever• It’sallaboutattitude!
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It’sAllAboutAttitude• Howdoyougettheattitudegoing?• HowdoIstartusingpairprogramming?• Thingstoconsider:
– TeachingtheTechnique– Assignments– PairCreation– PairEvaluation– Assessment
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TeachingtheTechnique• Startwiththeinstructionalstaff• PairprogrammingHAStobeincorporatedintotheclass(orlab)insomestructuredway
• Studentsdonotnaturallyworkasa“pair”whengivena“partner”
• Whathappenswhenyoutellstudentstheycanworkwitha“partner”?
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TeachingtheTechnique• Theenvironmentmatters!
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TeachingtheTechnique• Whatareyouactuallyteachingthemtodo?• 1.Taketurnsbeingtheonecoding(“driver”)• 2.Whoeverisnotcoding,commentactively• 3.Whoeveriscoding,talkthroughwhatyouaredoing
• 4.Switchatregularintervals• 5.Nothingisdoneindependentlyfromtheotherpartner
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TeachingtheTechnique• Switchingrolescanbeproblematics• Someideas:
– Goaroundandtappeopleontheshoulder– Haveaaudiocue– Haveavisualcue
• Trytoenforceevenrolesasmuchaspossible• Trytoenforceno“splittingupwork”asmuchaspossible
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Assignments• DoIhavetototallychangemycoursematerialtodopairprogramming?
• Answer:Probablynot,butsomechangesmightmakethingsgobetter
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Assignments• Biggestproblem:assignmentscope• Ifyouuseyourcurrentassignmentswithnomodificationatall,it’spossiblethatnoswitchingwilloccurand/orthepointofpairingwon’tbeobvious
• Example:ConvertFahrenheittoCelsius• CounterArgument:Twonoviceslearningtogetherfromtheverybeginningcouldhelpwithself-confidence
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Assignments• Iftheassignmentscopeistoolargeorifthereisanobvious“splitpoint”,divideandconquerbecomesmoretempting
• Example:WriteaStudentandCourseclassthatworktogethertokeepupwithcourseenrollment
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Assignments• AnassignmentIlikeforpairprogramming:• EmailHunt
– Givenawebsitethathasabunchofemailaddressesonit,writeaprogramthatcanreadthewebsiteandextracttheemailaddresses
– http://cs1110.cs.virginia.edu/emails.html• ThingsIlike:
– Noonewaytodoit(infact,ittakesmorethanoneideatogetalltheemailsout)
– Allowsforsomecreativity19
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PairCreation• Howdoyoucreatepartners?• Bigphilosophicquestion:
– Doyouassignpartnersordoyouletstudentspicktheirownpartners?
– Advantagesanddisadvantagestoboth
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PairCreation– AssignedPairs• Howcanyouassignpairs?
– Randomly– Basedonprogrammingexperience/confidence– Personality/friendships– Otherinterests/surveyresults
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PairCreation– AssignedPairs• Randomly
– Easiesttosetup– Goodifyouhavenootherinformationtoworkfrom
– Haspotentialtoleadtoproblems(butnotasmanyasyoumightthink)
– Consider“randomwithreplacement”forsubsequentassignments(noonecanworkwithsamepersontwice)
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PairCreation– AssignedPairs• Basedonprogrammingexperience/confidence– Researchindicatesthishasthehighestlikelihoodofproducinggoodpartnerships
– Hardtosetupuntilyouhavedata– Eventhen,itcanbedifficultbecauseresearchshowsthatperception ofpartner’sability(notactualability)isahigherindicatorofagoodmatch
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PairCreation– AssignedPairs• Personality/Friendships
– Mostlikelytohavethefewestpersonalityconflicts– Enforcingcliques
• Othersurveyresults– Ihaven’tusedanythingelse,butcouldimagineusingthingslike:• Schedule• Outsideinterests• Commonfriends
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PairCreation– Self-SelectedPairs• Self-selectedpairsoftenhaveelementsoftheassignedpairingswithsimilarexperienceandfriendships
• Soithassimilarbenefitsanddrawbacks• However,youHAVEtomonitorcloselyforthe“laststudentpicked”problem
• Probablyshouldenforcereplacementforlaterassignments
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PairReplacement• Reassignseveraltimespersemester• Goodforstudents
– Gettomeetnewpeople,learnaboutworkingwithnewpeople
– Iftheydon’tliketheirpartner,theyknowtheywillgetanewonesoon
• Goodforinstructor– Multipleformsoffeedback– Naturalhandlingofdysfunctionalpairs
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PairManagementandEvaluation• Auto-AssignPairCreation
– CATME– http://www.catme.org– Dataneededtoauto-createpairsvaries
• Self-ReportedPairs– GoogleForms
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PairEval
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PairEval
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PairEvaluation• Withorwithoutatool,itboilsdowntoafewquestions:– Didthepairgetalong?– Didyougettheworkdone?– Doyoufeellikeyou“didyourfairshare?”
• Moredataisnice/interesting,butthisisallyoureallyneed
• Reliablefeedbacksystemisneeded(bothforyouandthestudents)
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PairEvaluation• NCWITresourceshavesurveysyoucanuse!• Exampleinyourpacket• http://www.ncwit.org/pairprogramming
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PairEvaluationandAssessment• Ifthere’snoproblem…thengreat!• Ifthereis…
– Ifpossible,askthestudentsoneatatime:“If100%effortisyoudoingexactlywhatyoushouldhavebeendoing,whatpercentagedidyouactuallydo?”
– 95%ofthetime,thisworks!– Fortheother5%,youhavetouseyourbestjudgement
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Assessment• Forotherclassassessments,Idonotadjustanything
• Alltests/exams,popquizzes,etc.allstaythesameasifitwereasoloprogrammingonlycourse
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TheBiggestCost• Training!• Instructors,TAs,andstudents needtobetaughthowtodoeffectivepairprogramminginacontrolledenvironment!
• Thecontrolledenvironmentcouldbeaclosedlaborlecture-labsystem
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Butwedon’thaveaclosedlab?• CS1:
– Assignedpairsnotadvisableiftheydon’tknowthepartnersTrytointroduceinguidedlabs/in-classactivitiesfirst
• CS2:– Proceedwithcautionforassignedpairsforfirstassignment– Worksbetterafterfirstmonthorso– Atleastbondinlab+someoutsidework
• CS2+:– Afteratleastonepairedclass– Bondingstillbeneficial,outsideworkfine
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GettingInvolved• InstructorsandTeachingAssistantshavetotakeanactiveroleinlab– Mustmonitorandapproachpairsiftheyseemtobedysfunctional
– Should"stronglyencourage" driversandnavigatorstoswitch
• Instructorsalsomustunderstandthatsomepairingsarejustnotgoingtowork– Don’tletitdiscourageyou!
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HowManyPairingsFail?
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Class Verycompatible
OK Notcompatible
CS1 64% 32% 4%
SE-P1 60% 33% 7%
SE-P2 56% 35% 9%
OO 76% 15% 9%
Total 60% 33% 7%
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ProblemPairs• Willproblempairshappen?Yes.• Particularcases:
– The“Idon’tcare”student– Thespecialneedsstudent– Theabsentstudent– The“liberalartsvs.engineering”student
• Theseproblemsarenotpairprogrammingrelated,butpairprogrammingcanmakethesecometothesurfacemoreoften
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GuidelinesToFollow• Stricttardiness/absencepolicymustbefollowedforpairactivitiestoguardagainstlazypartners.– Lossofpartner,points,andbadevaluation
• Theremust beareportingmechanismforstudentstoprovidefeedbackonpartners– CATMEorasimpleGoogleForm– "Ifyoucouldrateyoureffortbasedon100%.."
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GuidelinesToFollow• Assignmentsshouldbeabitmorechallenging
– "Softball" assignmentstendtobefinishedbyasinglepersonwithoutconsultingtheirpartner
• Theenvironmentforpairingmustbeconducivetopairing
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GuidelinesToFollow• Don’tgooverboard!
– EverythinginmoderationJ– Pairingisn’tforeveryassignment– Theremustbeabalance(inworkandingrade)
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MythsandLegends• Myth:Halfthestudentswilllearn
– "Inthefirstcourse,studentsneedsometimetoabsorbtheideasthemselves."
– "Myinclinationistoallowmoregroupworkstartinginthesecondcourse."
– "Wewanttobesurethateachstudentwritesenoughcodehim/herselftolearntheintroductoryconcepts."
– "Iamagainstpair-programminginintroductorycourses,wherestudentsneedtodevelopstrongprogrammingskillsthemselves."
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MythsandLegends• Infact,allthestudentslearnprettywell…
– StudiesatNCSUandSDSUshowedthatexamscoreswerecomparableorimprovedforallstudentsinintroductoryclasses
– Also,thepercentageofstudentswhosegradeinCS2wentdownbyover1/3ofagradedroppedoncepairingwasusedinCS1
Williams,L.,Layman,L.,LabPartners:IfThey’reGoodEnoughfortheSciences,WhyAren’tTheyGoodEnoughforUs?,ConferenceonSoftwareEngineeringEducationandTraining(CSEE&T’07)
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MythsandLegends• Byfallingforthismyth,you’reperpetuatinganotherone– “Allcomputerscientistworkbythemselvesincubiclesstrugglingtocode.”
• WeallknowthatcreatingsoftwareisHIGHLYcollaborative!
• Whygivethewrongimpressioninthefirstclasstheytake!?
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MythsandLegends• Myth:Cheatingwillincrease
– "Withlooserulesaboutwhopartnersare,peoplewilljustpasscodearound.Therehastobestructure!"
– "Oldpartnersmayfeelobligedtohelptheirformerteammates."
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MythsandLegends• Thinkaboutitalittledifferently…• Whenweprovidepartners,studentsnowhaveasupportsystemtheycanturnto– Anecdotalevidencefromstudentsindicatedthatthestressoffeelingaloneandisolatedmadethemconsidercheating
• Twopeoplenowhavetoagreeoncheating!– Well…thereareexceptionstothisone…– Mossandetector arevaluabletools
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OtherGuidelinesandMyths• Anyotherstoadd?
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Resources• http://www.realsearchgroup.org/pairlearning• http://www.ncwit.org/pairprogramming
• Mypersonalwebsite:http://marksherriff.com
• Myemail:[email protected]
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