Effect of Knowledge-Based Team Composition on Effectiveness of Pair Programming

Abstract

Over years variety of tools has been used in the class room to support student learning. Among them, pair programming is trending as a pedagogical tool for programming courses in higher education. Implementation of pair programming is inadequate, choosing the right factors for successful adoption of this method is vital. This study aims at investigating the effect of knowledge-based team composition on effectiveness of pair programming. First year students following HNDIT at ATI Gampaha in the academic year 2020 had participated for the experiment. Data was collected using four instruments. The final exam scores, assignment scores, questionnaire, code quality. Mann Whitney U test is used to analyze assignment score and exam score and the code quality was determined by the defect density. The results revealed that students who had paired performed better in the assignments and they had graded better in the final exam as well. Knowledge based pair programming has positively affected code quality also. Further it reports willingness among students to use pair programming in the academic field when they are paired in a compatible way. Thus, it can be concluded that knowledge based team composition has positively affected to pair programming. These results are consistent with those of other studies that have done on the same topic.