The massive rise in Computer Science enrollments in both traditional classroom courses and in Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) shows the enormous opportunities in engaging students to learn programming. While the number of students in CS courses continues to increase, there has been no concomitant increase in the number of instructors for such courses. This leads to a completely lopsided learning environment where the already-stretched instructor is pressed to spend more time on ancillary tasks like grading and course bookkeeping. CodeWorkout is an online drill-and-practice system with course management features that aims to address these issues. CodeWorkout hosts an online repository of programming questions that instructors can incorporate into their courses. It also provides instructors with a facility to create their own programming questions so that exercises can be tailored according to the needs of the class. CodeWorkout has an open gradual engagement model that allows students who are not enrolled in a course to use it. CodeWorkout also creates an open environment for instructors to collaborate by sharing exercises that they create. CodeWorkout has been used in four courses at Virginia Tech. It has been shown to significantly improve the student's skills in introductory programming through providing a number of online practice questions. / Master of Science

In order to help a group of introductory-level music students achieve a foundational understanding of music theory, a series of computer-based instructional modules were developed using a system called Technology-Assisted Language Learning (TALL). This system, though primarily intended to be used in developing natural language-based instruction, was designed to be flexible enough to handle a broad range of academic subjects. The design of the instruction was largely accomplished via formative evaluation, where student and expert reviews of prototypes played a significant role. Students reviewed three separate prototypes of the instruction, and experts in instructional design and evaluation were also asked to provide feedback. The instructional approach of the learning modules consisted of drill and practice exercises, which included remedial feedback. Activities were sequenced such that review was required until a specified level of mastery had been achieved. The implementation of the software was less than perfect as numerous software bugs were present throughout. This caused frustration on the part of students and resulted in inaccuracies in the data collected by the system. A formal evaluation of the software and implementation was conducted in order to answer specific questions generated by those identified as stakeholders in the experience.

Drill and practice systems provide students with an informal learning environment to learn programming languages. In a traditional classroom setting, while feedback is personalized for each individual, it is a time consuming process. These online environments possess the ability to provide instantaneous feedback and can be accessed from any location. However, while these are conveniences, there is still an issue with the quantity and quality of feedback that is provided to each user by the system, and whether it is helpful towards helping them solve the exercise with a large understanding of the concept being tested. In this thesis we investigate how students perceive additional feedback would help them in completing coding exercises in CodeWorkout. We conducted these investigations through user studies, across two focus groups, with Computer Science students from various years. The study was conducted over one semester with a total of seventeen participants. A discussion based frequently asked questions (FAQ) tool, the ability to request a hint during submissions and the option to provide a hint to other users, to encourage active learning, were all options presented to participants during these focus groups. The information gathered though these group discussions formed the basis of our conclusion and implications. The overall feedback on all three tools was both positive and constructive. The idea of having a less traditional FAQ tool, complete anonymity in responses, as well as the ability to vote on hints provided were strong emergent themes through the study. The majority of Participants felt that they would utilize all these tools in some fashion, were they provided, and would find them helpful in completing a coding exercise if they were stuck. Lastly, we conclude with suggestions for potential design and feature options for the system. / Master of Science

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