On the Differences in Time That Students Take to Write Solutions to Programming Problems

Fabian Fagerholm; Arto Hellas

doi:10.1109/FIE44824.2020.9274237

On the Differences in Time That Students Take to Write Solutions to Programming Problems

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference article in proceedings › Scientific › peer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

104 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In this work, we study productivity differences in an introductory programming course. Focusing on a set of students who completed all programming
assignments in the course, we quantify differences in productivity, measured through the time spent on completing the assignments. We focus both on the overall time needed to complete all
programming assignments in the course, as well as on time
spent on individual programming assignments. In addition, the
effect of previous programming experience and difficulty of
the programming assignment is considered. Our results show
significant productivity differences between students. In addition, while programming experience influences productivity, a
proportion of students who have never programmed before are
faster in completing the programming assignments than students
with considerable amounts of previous programming experience.
Our results suggest that the classic credit-based or lecture hour
based workload estimates of a course fit poorly to the whole
course population in programming, suggesting that programming
courses and training should be adjusted based on the participant.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	2020 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, FIE 2020 - Proceedings
Publisher	IEEE
ISBN (Electronic)	978-1-7281-8961-1
ISBN (Print)	978-1-7281-8962-8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE44824.2020.9274237
Publication status	Published - 21 Oct 2020
MoE publication type	A4 Conference publication
Event	Frontiers in Education Conference - Uppsala, Sweden Duration: 21 Oct 2020 → 24 Oct 2020 https://www.fie2020.org/

Publication series

Name	IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)
Publisher	IEEE
ISSN (Print)	1539-4565
ISSN (Electronic)	2377-634X

Conference

Conference	Frontiers in Education Conference
Abbreviated title	FIE
Country/Territory	Sweden
City	Uppsala
Period	21/10/2020 → 24/10/2020
Internet address	https://www.fie2020.org/

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10.1109/FIE44824.2020.9274237

fie2020Accepted author manuscript, 288 KB

Cite this

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title = "On the Differences in Time That Students Take to Write Solutions to Programming Problems",

abstract = "In this work, we study productivity differences in an introductory programming course. Focusing on a set of students who completed all programmingassignments in the course, we quantify differences in productivity, measured through the time spent on completing the assignments. We focus both on the overall time needed to complete allprogramming assignments in the course, as well as on timespent on individual programming assignments. In addition, theeffect of previous programming experience and difficulty ofthe programming assignment is considered. Our results showsignificant productivity differences between students. In addition, while programming experience influences productivity, aproportion of students who have never programmed before arefaster in completing the programming assignments than studentswith considerable amounts of previous programming experience.Our results suggest that the classic credit-based or lecture hourbased workload estimates of a course fit poorly to the wholecourse population in programming, suggesting that programmingcourses and training should be adjusted based on the participant.",

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On the Differences in Time That Students Take to Write Solutions to Programming Problems. / Fagerholm, Fabian ; Hellas, Arto.
2020 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, FIE 2020 - Proceedings. IEEE, 2020. 9274237 (IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference article in proceedings › Scientific › peer-review

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T1 - On the Differences in Time That Students Take to Write Solutions to Programming Problems

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AU - Hellas, Arto

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N2 - In this work, we study productivity differences in an introductory programming course. Focusing on a set of students who completed all programmingassignments in the course, we quantify differences in productivity, measured through the time spent on completing the assignments. We focus both on the overall time needed to complete allprogramming assignments in the course, as well as on timespent on individual programming assignments. In addition, theeffect of previous programming experience and difficulty ofthe programming assignment is considered. Our results showsignificant productivity differences between students. In addition, while programming experience influences productivity, aproportion of students who have never programmed before arefaster in completing the programming assignments than studentswith considerable amounts of previous programming experience.Our results suggest that the classic credit-based or lecture hourbased workload estimates of a course fit poorly to the wholecourse population in programming, suggesting that programmingcourses and training should be adjusted based on the participant.

AB - In this work, we study productivity differences in an introductory programming course. Focusing on a set of students who completed all programmingassignments in the course, we quantify differences in productivity, measured through the time spent on completing the assignments. We focus both on the overall time needed to complete allprogramming assignments in the course, as well as on timespent on individual programming assignments. In addition, theeffect of previous programming experience and difficulty ofthe programming assignment is considered. Our results showsignificant productivity differences between students. In addition, while programming experience influences productivity, aproportion of students who have never programmed before arefaster in completing the programming assignments than studentswith considerable amounts of previous programming experience.Our results suggest that the classic credit-based or lecture hourbased workload estimates of a course fit poorly to the wholecourse population in programming, suggesting that programmingcourses and training should be adjusted based on the participant.

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On the Differences in Time That Students Take to Write Solutions to Programming Problems

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