Are visualization tools used in programming education?

Abstract

Visualization tool developers and researchers deliberate on the future directions of tool design and research. Sometimes, it is argued that visualization tools are not used widely. However, there is no factual knowledge about the current rate of visualization tool usage in programming education. How widely are visualization tools used in classes? Who uses them? How, why or why not?This work studies the current usage of visualizations in order to answer the above mentioned questions. The aim is to provide facts to lay the ground for discussion on the future directions on visualization tool development and research.A worldwide survey was organized for over 250 teachers of programming. We targetted the teachers of programming in general, not only those interested in visualization technologies, and asked if they use visualization tools in their class, how they use them and their reasons for and against using them. This paper discusses the results related to almost 500 programming courses giving a current overview of the state of the field.Regular use of visualization tools in class is rather rare: approximately 20% of programming courses use software visualizations regularly. Contrary to the recommendations on visualization tool usage, most commonly they are used by the teacher, not by the students. The most often mentioned reason for not using visualization tools was that the teacher prefers to create his/her own visualizations in some other way, e.g., using the blackboard.