Teaching Event-driven Programming for Novice Programmers: Challenges and Advances

Aleksi Lukkarinen

Teaching Event-driven Programming for Novice Programmers: Challenges and Advances

Julkaisun otsikon käännös: Tapahtumapohjaisen ohjelmoinnin opettaminen ohjelmoinnin alkeisopetuksessa: Haasteita ja parannuksia

Aleksi Lukkarinen

Tietotekniikan laitos

Tutkimustuotos: Doctoral Thesis › Collection of Articles

Abstrakti

Monet tietokonesovellukset vastaanottavat tietoa ulkoisista tapahtumista ja tuottavat vasteita. Tällaisia sovelluksia ovat esimerkiksi web-palvelimet, monet Internet-selaimilla käytettävät palvelut sekä useat graafiset käyttöliittymät matkapuhelimista ja kodinkoneista yleiskäyttöisiin tietokoneisiin ja teollisuussovelluksiin. Tällaisten sovellusten kehittämistä kutsutaan usein tapahtumapohjaiseksi ohjelmoinniksi. Tapahtumapohjaisten sovellusten tärkeys yhteiskunnassa kasvaa jatkuvasti, mutta kokeellista tutkimusta tapahtumapohjaisen ohjelmoinnin opettamisesta ja oppimisesta ei juurikaan ole julkaistu. Tämä väitöskirja tutkimuksineen edistää tietämystä tuolla alueella. Tässä väitöskirjassa on kaksi aihekokonaisuutta, joista ensimmäisessä tarkastellaan tapahtumapohjaisen ohjelmoinnin ymmärtämistä. Aluksi käsitellään käsitteen tapahtumapohjainen ohjelmointi täsmällisen määrittelyn vaikeutta sekä tapahtumapohjaisen ohjelmoinnin opettamista ja oppimista koskevan tutkimuksen nykytilaa. Näistä siirrytään tarkastelemaan opiskelijoiden ymmärrystä käsitteistä kuten painike, tapahtuma ja tapahtumakäsittelijä. Tämä tarkastelu pohjautuu kolmeen tutkimukseen, joissa kahden verkossa suoritettavan kurssin opiskelijat vastasivat kyselyihin ja tehtäviin. Joihinkin kysymyksiin sisältyi ohjelmakoodin ymmärtämistä, ja yhdessä tehtävässä opiskelijoilta pyydettiin vastauksena käsitekarttaa. Opiskelijoiden vastauksista paljastui tapahtumapohjaiseen ohjelmointiin ja käyttöliittymiin liittyviä väärinkäsityksiä, joiden pohjalta väitöskirja tarjoaa käytännönläheisiä ehdotuksia opetuksen parantamiseen. Väitöskirjan toinen aihekokonaisuus käsittelee tapahtumapohjaisen ohjelmoinnin opettamista kahdesta näkökulmasta. Niistä ensimmäinen tarkastelee opetuksen viitekehyksellistämistä ja keskittyy erityisesti medialaskennan työkaluihin ja harjoituksiin. Jälkimmäinen näkökulma on prototyyppi työkalusta, joka soveltuu korkean tason käsitteiden visualisointiin monien verkossa suoritettavien kurssien oppimateriaaleissa. Työkalu tukee käyttäjien toimien kirjaamista ja sopii käytettäväksi versionhallintajärjestelmien kanssa. Lisäksi sen oppimiskynnys on tietotekniikkaa opettavalle suhteellisen matala.

Julkaisun otsikon käännös	Tapahtumapohjaisen ohjelmoinnin opettaminen ohjelmoinnin alkeisopetuksessa: Haasteita ja parannuksia
Alkuperäiskieli	Englanti
Pätevyys	Tohtorintutkinto
Myöntävä instituutio	Aalto-yliopisto
Valvoja/neuvonantaja	Malmi, Lauri, Vastuuprofessori Haaranen, Lassi, Ohjaaja
Kustantaja	Aalto University
Painoksen ISBN	978-952-64-0865-1
Sähköinen ISBN	978-952-64-0866-8
Tila	Julkaistu - 2022
OKM-julkaisutyyppi	G5 Artikkeliväitöskirja

Tutkimusalat

tapahtumapohjainen ohjelmointi
käsitteet
väärinymmärrykset
viitekehyksellistetty opetus
visualisointi
ohjelmoinnin alkeisopetus

Pääsy asiakirjaan

http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-64-0866-8

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@phdthesis{0eb09541570a49618461b8ace668fa68,

title = "Teaching Event-driven Programming for Novice Programmers: Challenges and Advances",

abstract = "Many computer applications receive information about external events and produce responses. Such applications include web server software, many services used via Internet browsers, as well as most graphical user interfaces in devices from mobile phones and home appliances to general-purpose computers and industrial applications. The development of such applications is often called event-driven programming (EDP). Despite the continuously increasing importance of event-driven applications in the modern society, only a little published experimental research has been targeted at teaching and learning EDP. This dissertation addresses this research gap. The dissertation has two major parts, of which the first one addresses understanding EDP. As an introduction, it reflects on the difficulty of defining the term event-driven programming and continues by presenting a mapping review regarding published research on teaching and learning EDP. From there, it proceeds to explore students{\textquoteright} perceptions of concepts such as a button, an event, and an event handler. This discussion is based on three studies that involved questionnaires and exercises for students of two online courses. A few questions included reading program code, and in one exercise, the participants were asked to answer using a concept map. The analysis of these answers revealed fundamental misunderstandings regarding EDP and user interfaces. Based on them, the dissertation offers practical suggestions for improving the teaching practice. The second major part of the dissertation addresses teaching EDP from two perspectives. First, it explores contextualization of teaching EDP and focuses on tools and exercises of an approach called media computation. Second, it presents a prototype of a tool that can be used for visualizing high-level concepts in many online learning materials. This tool supports logging users{\textquoteright} actions, plays well together with version control systems, has a relatively low learning curve for teachers of computer science, as well as is open source and free to use. The tool was evaluated in a small-scale pilot study, which demonstrated its suitability for its intended usage environment.",

keywords = "event-driven programming, concepts, misunderstandings, contextualized teaching, visualization, introductory programming education, tapahtumapohjainen ohjelmointi, k{\"a}sitteet, v{\"a}{\"a}rinymm{\"a}rrykset, viitekehyksellistetty opetus, visualisointi, ohjelmoinnin alkeisopetus, event-driven programming, concepts, misunderstandings, contextualized teaching, visualization, introductory programming education",

author = "Aleksi Lukkarinen",

year = "2022",

language = "English",

isbn = "978-952-64-0865-1",

series = "Aalto University publication series DOCTORAL THESES",

publisher = "Aalto University",

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AU - Lukkarinen, Aleksi

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Y1 - 2022

N2 - Many computer applications receive information about external events and produce responses. Such applications include web server software, many services used via Internet browsers, as well as most graphical user interfaces in devices from mobile phones and home appliances to general-purpose computers and industrial applications. The development of such applications is often called event-driven programming (EDP). Despite the continuously increasing importance of event-driven applications in the modern society, only a little published experimental research has been targeted at teaching and learning EDP. This dissertation addresses this research gap. The dissertation has two major parts, of which the first one addresses understanding EDP. As an introduction, it reflects on the difficulty of defining the term event-driven programming and continues by presenting a mapping review regarding published research on teaching and learning EDP. From there, it proceeds to explore students’ perceptions of concepts such as a button, an event, and an event handler. This discussion is based on three studies that involved questionnaires and exercises for students of two online courses. A few questions included reading program code, and in one exercise, the participants were asked to answer using a concept map. The analysis of these answers revealed fundamental misunderstandings regarding EDP and user interfaces. Based on them, the dissertation offers practical suggestions for improving the teaching practice. The second major part of the dissertation addresses teaching EDP from two perspectives. First, it explores contextualization of teaching EDP and focuses on tools and exercises of an approach called media computation. Second, it presents a prototype of a tool that can be used for visualizing high-level concepts in many online learning materials. This tool supports logging users’ actions, plays well together with version control systems, has a relatively low learning curve for teachers of computer science, as well as is open source and free to use. The tool was evaluated in a small-scale pilot study, which demonstrated its suitability for its intended usage environment.

AB - Many computer applications receive information about external events and produce responses. Such applications include web server software, many services used via Internet browsers, as well as most graphical user interfaces in devices from mobile phones and home appliances to general-purpose computers and industrial applications. The development of such applications is often called event-driven programming (EDP). Despite the continuously increasing importance of event-driven applications in the modern society, only a little published experimental research has been targeted at teaching and learning EDP. This dissertation addresses this research gap. The dissertation has two major parts, of which the first one addresses understanding EDP. As an introduction, it reflects on the difficulty of defining the term event-driven programming and continues by presenting a mapping review regarding published research on teaching and learning EDP. From there, it proceeds to explore students’ perceptions of concepts such as a button, an event, and an event handler. This discussion is based on three studies that involved questionnaires and exercises for students of two online courses. A few questions included reading program code, and in one exercise, the participants were asked to answer using a concept map. The analysis of these answers revealed fundamental misunderstandings regarding EDP and user interfaces. Based on them, the dissertation offers practical suggestions for improving the teaching practice. The second major part of the dissertation addresses teaching EDP from two perspectives. First, it explores contextualization of teaching EDP and focuses on tools and exercises of an approach called media computation. Second, it presents a prototype of a tool that can be used for visualizing high-level concepts in many online learning materials. This tool supports logging users’ actions, plays well together with version control systems, has a relatively low learning curve for teachers of computer science, as well as is open source and free to use. The tool was evaluated in a small-scale pilot study, which demonstrated its suitability for its intended usage environment.

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KW - concepts

KW - misunderstandings

KW - contextualized teaching

KW - visualization

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KW - tapahtumapohjainen ohjelmointi

KW - käsitteet

KW - väärinymmärrykset

KW - viitekehyksellistetty opetus

KW - visualisointi

KW - ohjelmoinnin alkeisopetus

KW - event-driven programming

KW - concepts

KW - misunderstandings

KW - contextualized teaching

KW - visualization

KW - introductory programming education

M3 - Doctoral Thesis

SN - 978-952-64-0865-1

T3 - Aalto University publication series DOCTORAL THESES

PB - Aalto University

ER -

Teaching Event-driven Programming for Novice Programmers: Challenges and Advances

Abstrakti

Tutkimusalat

Pääsy asiakirjaan

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