A proposal of recommendation function for element fill-in-Blank problems in java programming learning assistant system

Abstract

Purpose To advance Java programming educations, the authors have developed a Web-based Java programming learning assistant system (JPLAS). It offers the element fill-in-blank problem (EFP) for novice students to study Java grammar and basic programming skills by filling in the missing elements in a source code. An EFP instance can be generated by selecting an appropriate code, and applying the blank element selection algorithm. As it is expected to cover broad grammar topics, a number of EFP instances have been generated. This paper aims to propose a recommendation function to guide a student solving the proper EFP instances among them. Design/methodology/approach This function considers the difficulty level of the EFP instance and the grammar topics that have been correctly answered by the student, and is implemented at the offline answering function of JPLAS using JavaScript so that students can use it even without the Internet connections. Findings To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposal, 85 EFP instances are prepared to cover various grammar topics, and are assigned to a total of 92 students in two universities in Myanmar and Indonesia to solve them using the recommendation function. Their solution results confirmed the effectiveness of the proposal. Originality/value The concept of the difficulty level for an EFP instance is newly defined for the proper recommendation, and the accuracy in terms of the average numbers of answer submission times among the students is verified.

Exploring the differences and evolution of college students' computational thinking in programming learning through data analysis

“…Many programming instruction systems tend to detect syntactic and semantic errors in the programs submitted by students and indicate where and why the errors occur in the programs [11]. One study developed a Web‐based Java Programming Learning Assistant System (JPLAS) that provides novice students with the element fill‐in‐blank problem (EFP), where students learn Java syntax and basic programming skills by filling in the missing elements in the source code [25]. Kyaw et al [12] extended the JPLAS and proposed the code completion problem (CCP).…”

Aplikasi Pembelajaran Rekonstruksi Algoritma Pseudocode Dengan Pendekatan Element Fill-in-Blank Problems Di Pemrograman Java

“…Pada tahun 2016 berdasarkan TIOBE Index, Bahasa Pemrograman Java menduduki posisi pertama dan menduduki posisi kedua untuk jumlah repository di Github dibawahnya Javascript [3]. Pada tahun 2018 bahasa pemrograman java terpilih sebagai program yang memiliki banyak pengguna, karena telah banyak digunakan di berbagai bidang seperti aplikasi clouds, machine learning dan IOT karena keandalannya yang tinggi [4]. Selain itu, dalam dunia industri saat ini banyak membutuhkan programer dengan keahlian pemrograman java [5].…”

“…Dalam mempelajari dasar-dasar algoritma dan pemrograman, saat ini mahasiswa masih bingung dan kesulitan dalam menerjemahkan studi kasus kedalam sebuah program, salah satu diantaranya adalah masih kurangnya media pembelajaran tambahan sebagai media belajar mandiri di luar pembelajaran di sekolah [6]. Model pembelajaran yang ada saat ini masih berupa materi dan latihan pemrograman di komputer, sehingga membuat mahasiswa kurang paham untuk menerjemahkan studi kasus kedalam sebuah program [4]. Selain itu permasalahan yang lain adalah kurangnya kemampuan mahasiswa dalam menyusun kode program dan melakukan analisis studi kasus [7].…”