Java Programming Course Research Articles

Applications to Support Smart Learning Environments in Project-Based Cooperative Learning Models in Java Programming Courses and Applied in Science

This research paper proposes the development of an application to support an intelligent learning environment in a project-based cooperative learning model on Java programming courses. The application is built using the Laravel framework where the end result later lecturers can easily see the student portfolio of each learning access on the java programming course. An intelligent learning environment will enable students to learn from their experiences, adapt to new input, and perform project tasks already assigned to lecturers. This application will also help teachers in groups that are adapted from the cooperative learning model of the STAD type. The proposed application will be designed to make it easier for teachers to form groups based on the ability of students from high, medium and low, so that the groups formed are not homogeneous groups. This application will be useful for a variety of study programmer that have practical programming courses devised. This paper will discuss the benefits of cooperative learning, project-based learning, and intelligent learning environments in the context of Java programming courses. It will also provide insights into the proposed application development process. This application facilitates communication and discussion among students in a group that is easily connected with their lecturer, so that the lecturer can also monitor the activity of the group members. This paper will conclude with a discussion of the potential impact of the proposed applications on the field of education and the future in the learning environment.

Studying the Quality of Source Code Generated by Different AI Generative Engines: An Empirical Evaluation

The advent of Generative Artificial Intelligence is opening essential questions about whether and when AI will replace human abilities in accomplishing everyday tasks. This issue is particularly true in the domain of software development, where generative AI seems to have strong skills in solving coding problems and generating software source code. In this paper, an empirical evaluation of AI-generated source code is performed: three complex coding problems (selected from the exams for the Java Programming course at the University of Insubria) are prompted to three different Large Language Model (LLM) Engines, and the generated code is evaluated in its correctness and quality by means of human-implemented test suites and quality metrics. The experimentation shows that the three evaluated LLM engines are able to solve the three exams but with the constant supervision of software experts in performing these tasks. Currently, LLM engines need human-expert support to produce running code that is of good quality.

Code Plagiarism Checking Function and Its Application for Code Writing Problem in Java Programming Learning Assistant System

A web-based Java programming learning assistant system (JPLAS) has been developed for novice students to study Java programming by themselves while enhancing code reading and code writing skills. One type of the implemented exercise problem is code writing problem (CWP), which asks students to create a source code that can pass the given test code. The correctness of this answer code is validated by running them on JUnit. In previous works, a Python-based answer code validation program was implemented to assist teachers. It automatically verifies the source codes from all the students for one test code, and reports the number of passed test cases by each code in the CSV file. While this program plays a crucial role in checking the correctness of code behaviors, it cannot detect code plagiarism that can often happen in programming courses. In this paper, we implement a code plagiarism checking function in the answer code validation program, and present its application results to a Java programming course at Okayama University, Japan. This function first removes the whitespace characters and the comments using the regular expressions. Next, it calculates the Levenshtein distance and similarity score for each pair of source codes from different students in the class. If the score is larger than a given threshold, they are regarded as plagiarism. Finally, it outputs the scores as a CSV file with the student IDs. For evaluations, we applied the proposed function to a total of 877 source codes for 45 CWP assignments submitted from 9 to 39 students and analyzed the results. It was found that (1) CWP assignments asking for shorter source codes generate higher scores than those for longer codes due to the use of test codes, (2) proper thresholds are different by assignments, and (3) some students often copied source codes from certain students.

Code Adventure: An Educational Game for Learning JAVA Programming

The purpose of this project is to (1) develop an educational game for learning in a JAVA programming course for undergraduate students, (2) compare the learning achievements of educational games and lectures, and (3) assess learner game acceptance with learning through games. The sample used in this research were 50 first-year undergraduate students in the field of management information systems from the Department of Information Science, S University in Thailand. In game design and development, The researcher developed the game based on the concept of game flow elements, such as challenges, story, fun, beauty, and so on, in order to inspire learners to be engaged in learning through games. The tools used in the research were (1) educational game performance evaluation forms, (2) an educational game for learning JAVA programming concepts, (3) a learning achievement test, and (4) student satisfaction assessment forms. The research results showed that (1) the learning efficiency of the educational game was very good, (2) the academic achievement of learning by the educational game was higher than that of learning by lecture, and (3) the acceptance of learning with computer games by the students was excellent. Additionally, learning through games made it easier for students to absorb the subject and learn more effectively. It has been discovered that learning through games improves learning results for students.

Discussion on the Teaching Reform of Java Programming Course for Computer Science Majors in Colleges and Universities

In the new era, society has put forward higher requirements for the training of talents in colleges and universities, which needs to keep pace with the development of the times in the Java programming course for college computer majors, and constantly improve and optimize the teaching strategy. From the current situation, there are some problems in the teaching of Java programming courses for computer science majors in colleges and universities, such as the teaching content is not updated in time, the teaching method is too single, etc., which needs to be addressed in the teaching reform to solve the current problems. The article explores the importance of teaching reform of Java programming courses for computer majors in colleges and universities and gives effective teaching strategies according to the current teaching situation.

I-Ntervene: applying an evidence-based learning analytics intervention to support computer programming instruction

Apart from good instructional design and delivery, effective intervention is another key to strengthen student academic performance. However, intervention has been recognized as a great challenge. Most instructors struggle to identify at-risk students, determine a proper intervention approach, trace and evaluate whether the intervention works. This process requires extensive effort and commitment, which is impractical especially for large classes with few instructors. This paper proposes a platform, namely i-Ntervene, that integrates Learning Management System (LMS) automatic code grader, and learning analytics features which can empower systematic learning intervention for large programming classes. The platform supports instructor-pace courses on both Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and traditional classroom setting. The platform iteratively assesses student engagement levels through learning activity gaps. It also analyzes subject understanding from programming question practices to identify at-risk students and suggests aspects of intervention based on their lagging in these areas. Students’ post-intervention data are traced and evaluated quantitatively to determine effective intervention approaches. This evaluation method aligns with the evidence-based research design. The developed i-Ntervene prototype was tested on a Java programming course with 253 first-year university students during the Covid-19 pandemic in VLE. The result was satisfactory, as the instructors were able to perform and evaluate 12 interventions throughout a semester. For this experimental course, the platform revealed that the approach of sending extrinsic motivation emails had more impact in promoting learning behavior compared to other types of messages. It also showed that providing tutorial sessions was not an effective approach to improving students’ subject understanding in complex algorithmic topics. i-Ntervene allows instructors to flexibly trial potential interventions to discover the optimal approach for their course settings which should boost student’s learning outcomes in long term.

Proiectarea și implementarea cursului de programare Java: strategii, instrumente și provocări în predare

The article specifies aspects regarding the instructional design of the "Java Programming" course. Designing and implementing programming courses is undoubtedly a challenging task. Learning programming languages is a continuous process that consists of the interaction between practical and theoretical learning of the material. The curriculum for the Java programming course is based on the analysis of teaching methods specific to the field of programming, the implementation of active learning approaches, and evaluation techniques developed within the university platform. The formative values of the discipline are connected to the aims of the bachelor's degree programme.

An AI-based Approach for Grading Students’ Collaboration

Soft skills (such as communication and collaboration) are rarely addressed in programming courses, mostly because they are difficult to teach, assess, and grade. A quantitative, modular, AI-based approach for assessing and grading students' collaboration has been examined in this paper. The pedagogical underpinning of the approach includes a pedagogical framework and a quantitative soft skill assessment rubric, which have been adapted and used in an extracurricular Java programming course. The objective was to identify pros and cons of using different AI methods within this approach when it comes to assessing and grading collaboration in group programming projects. More specifically, fuzzy rules and several machine learning methods (ML onward) have been examined to see which one would yield the best results regarding performance, interpretability/explainability of recommendations and feasibility/practicality. The data used for training and testing span four academic years, and the results suggest that almost all of the examined AI methods, when used within the proposed AI-based approach, can provide adequate grading recommendations as long as teachers cover other aspects of the assessment not covered by the rubrics: code quality, plagiarism, and project completion. The fuzzy-rule-based method requires time and effort to be spent on (manual) creation and tuning of fuzzy rules and sets, whereas the examined ML methods require lesser initial investments but do need historical data for training. On the other hand, the fuzzy-rule-based method can provide the best explanations on how the assessment/grading was made - something that proved to be very important to teachers.

Impact of Major Backgrounds on Student Learning Achievement: A Case Study for Java Programming Course

Due to the rapidly increasing number of students at universities in recent years, universities may arrange students from different majors in the same class, which may bring several challenges in teaching and learning for students and teachers, such as poor class experience, less class discussion and more workload for teachers. In this paper, we investigate the learning achievements of students with different major backgrounds based on a large-size course of Introduction to Java Programming. Approaches of difficulty index, incrimination index, failure rate, median average mark, average mark and standard deviation are used to evaluate students’ learning achievements based on students’ coursework assignments, continuous assessment and the final exam. Results show that major backgrounds could significantly affect learning achievements even in the same teaching and learning environment. To achieve a better learning experience and performance, we finally divided the original module into two separate modules for students with different major backgrounds.

A Proposal of Hint Function for Java Programming Learning Assistant System

Nowadays, Java is one of the world’s most used object-oriented programming languages for its dependability and portability. To assist the self-studies of novice students, we have developed the Java programming learning assistance system (JPLAS). JPLAS offers several types of exercise problems for different difficulties, including the grammar-concept understanding problem (GUP), the mistake correction problem (MCP), the element fill-in-blank problem (EFP), and the phrase fill-in-blank problem (PFP), where a question asks to answer the corresponding keyword or phrase in the given source code. Unfortunately, some students cannot solve them well as the difficulty level is ascending. In this paper, to help such students, we propose a hint function that will show the first or more characters of each correct answer word in the answer interface on a web browser for JPLAS, when requested. The use of this function by a student can be traced by a teacher to analyze the performance and problem difficulty. For evaluations, we generated three instances for GUP, MCP, EFP, and PFP respectively, and assigned them to junior students taking the Java programming course in Okayama University, Japan. Their answer results found that the proposal is effective in helping students solve exercise problems in JPLAS, but the thinking time needs to be adjusted for PFP.

Reform and Exploration on Teaching of Java Programming Course Based on The Concept of OBE

The Java programming course is a professional basic course for computer majors. This course has problems such as unclear teaching objectives, outdated teaching models, and single course evaluation models. In order to change a series of problems caused by traditional education methods, the OBE education concept is introduced into the teaching of Java programming courses, with results as the guide and students as the center, using the OBE concept to formulate teaching goals, refine the course goals, and adopt online and offline methods. The reform of the blended teaching model, the strengthening of school - enterprise cooperation, and the adoption of a diversified curriculum evaluation system. It is found in practice that the teaching concept based on OBE can improve students' learning effect and engineering practice ability.

Research on the Transformation of Teaching and Research Form of Professional Teachers in Blended Learning at Colleges and Universities – Taking the Java Programming Course as an Example

In view of the current situation that offline teaching is the main mode of teaching Java Programming in higher vocational schools, this paper introduces the online and offline hybrid teaching method and expounds it from the aspects of blended learning design, teaching organization, and implementation. At the same time, combined with the characteristics of blended learning, this paper proposes that under the new mode, teachers should actively change the form of teaching and research, the teaching mode, and the role of teachers, take students as the center, and build an independent and effective classroom.

The Effects of Self-regulated Learning Strategies on Computer Programming Achievement in Teacher Education

This study investigates the effects of student use of self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies on their computer programming achievement. Ninety-six students from undergraduate teacher training programmes offered by a Hong Kong university voluntarily participated in the study. Sixty-six of them were first-year students enrolling on an introductory Java programming course, while 30 were second-year students enrolling on an advanced Java programming course. The SRL strategies adopted by participants were measured by the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) and were exemplified from the reflective writing of their electronic portfolios. Their achievement in computer programming was evaluated using continuous and end of course assessments. The findings of this study suggest that higher-order cognitive strategies (i.e. elaboration, organization, critical thinking), metacognitive control strategies (i.e. self-regulation) and resource management strategies (i.e. time and study environment management, help seeking) are likely to facilitate a prolonged achievement of computer programming for both novices and non-novices. They can provide insights into designing adequate SRL strategy training to support student learning in computer programming.

CodeRunner: A Case Study of the Transition to Online Learning of a Java Programming Course

This paper outlines an educational transition from traditional practical programming tasks into a blended/online teaching and learning methodology in a first-year undergraduate programming curriculum. CodeRunner, a free, open-source Moodle plugin for automatic assessment of student code, developed at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, (Lobb and Harlow, 2016) was used for implementing this blended approach for teaching activities as well as for formative and summative assessments. This study draws on the literature from Laurillard’s Conversational Framework (2012) of 6 types of learning. In this regard, the use of CodeRunner is theoretically framed by outlining its role as an interactive phase of practice as well as a way for teachers to provide timely feedback (Gibbs, 1999; Gibbs, 2005) and follow through on work done by students (McGill, 2017) to motivate learners to effectively engage in their learning. This study identifies the strengths and limitations of the tool and reports on key metrics of students’ success and satisfaction by comparing student cohorts in a traditional practical programming course and one student cohort after the implementation of the plugin.

Research and Practice of “423 Mode” Teaching Based on Scratch Assisted Instruction——Taking the Java Programming Course as an Example

In the case of a general decline in the quality of students in vocational colleges, how to improve the teaching effectiveness of programming basic courses? This article introduces the use of graphical and Scratch software as teaching aids in the basic courses of higher vocational programming. At this stage, following two lines including Scratch and Java in the course design, and also following “423 model” consists of “pre-class”–“in class”–“after class” in the implementation of the classes to cultivate students’ innovative thinking ability, stimulate students’ learning interest, reduce the course difficulty and improving course teaching effectiveness. This teaching mode has achieved ideal teaching effect in Java teaching of Rizhao Vocational Technical College.

Research on Java Programming Course Based on CDIO and Iterative Engineering Teaching Pattern

Background: In universities, the course of Java programming is widely offered.It contains many contents and is practical. Therefore, learning Java programming is considered to be a difficult and challenging task for beginners. That is to say, students must learn a lot of programming skills in order to effectively master the course. However, it is often reported that the result of teaching Java programming is poor, mainly reflected in the stereotyped teaching methods, lack of project development experience and so on. In order to investigate and solve these problems, many educational experts have conducted in-depth research about it. CDIO (Conceiving-Designing-Implementing-Operating) engineering education model is the latest achievement of engineering education reform in recent years. It is a life cycle from product development to product operation as the carrier, which enables students to learn engineering in an active, practical and comprehensive way. For the problems in Java programming course, the concept of CDIO engineering is introduced to solve them. Methods: Firstly, the research status of Java programming course and the application of CDIO model were analysed. Secondly, the current situation of learning was analysed by means of questionnaire survey. At the same time, the main problems existing in the current teaching project were listed. Following this, the questionnaire method was used to analyse the current learning situation of Java programming course. The ideas of CDIO engineering education and iteration mode were applied to Java programming course. From various perspectives, this paper makes a detailed analysis of the development methods and strategies of the new teaching mode. Finally, the teaching model was applied to the existing teaching process. The teaching effect of the model was verified by data statistics. Results: The experimental results show that the new teaching mode encouraged students to master programming knowledge as well as problem-solving strategies. Students' interest in learning has been increased and their comprehensive ability has also been improved. Compared with traditional teaching methods, teachers tend to adopt CDIO teaching methods. The data statistics of teaching effect include six aspects: learning initiative, learning interest, knowledge-related ability, communication ability and practical ability, practical skills and final examination scores. The final exam results also showed that students with the new method performed better than those being taught with the older teaching method. Conclusion: A new teaching model based on graded iteration and CDIO Engineering education mode is proposed for the problems existing in the teaching process of Java programming course. This paper creatively combines CDIO engineering ideas with Java programming course, and introduces the idea of hierarchical iteration. According to this idea, the knowledge structure of the course is put forward, and the teaching method of CDIO is adopted to attract students to study Java programming. The basic characteristics of the teaching mode are that the project is taken as the main line, the teacher as the leading role, and the students as the main body, so as to cultivate the students' comprehensive engineering ability. By strengthening the classroom teaching and practice teaching, the new model improves the Java teaching process, and enhances the teaching effect. The teaching practice proves that the new teaching model can mobilize the enthusiasm of students and improve the students' practical ability. It is worthy of popularizing.

Supporting knowledge monitoring ability: open learner modeling vs. open social learner modeling

Research has demonstrated that people generally think both their knowledge and performance levels are greater than they are. Although several studies have suggested that knowledge and progress visualization offered by open learner modeling (OLM) technology might influence students’ self-awareness in a positive way, insufficient evidence exists to show that this is the case. This paper examines the effects of open learner modeling and its extension with social comparison features, known as open social learner modeling (OSLM), on students’ knowledge monitoring abilities. We report the results of two semester-long classroom studies, using subjects who were undergraduate and graduate students in Java Programming and Database Management courses at the University of Pittsburgh. During their studies, the students were able to use different versions of an online practice system equipped with both OLM and OSLM. The students’ knowledge monitoring abilities were examined in two ways: through absolute and relative assessments. According to the results, although in both OLM and OSLM groups the students’ absolute knowledge monitoring ability increased during the semester-long study, relative self-assessment ability (i.e., their ability to compare their own knowledge levels with the knowledge levels of their peers) only increased in the OSLM group. The authors also traced relationships between the students’ academic achievement and their absolute and relative knowledge monitoring abilities.

Choosing Appropriate Retrieval based Learning Elements among Students in Java Programming Course

Effective learning needs consistent and relevant strategies to help students process and maintain new information. This importance is influenced by researchers’ objectives to help students who are able to retain memory in learning, and manage to master learning well. Encoding, learning condition and learning practice are the important elements in Retrieval Based Learning (RBL) strategies. This research aims to decide suitable RBL strategies for students who join Java Programming course at vocational institutions. Research sample consists of 72 DVM students in their first semester for the Data and Web Application Database Management course in four different vocational institutions. Research data were obtained using questionnaire and analysed using the Statistical Package of the Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 22.0. The questionnaire was divided into four sections, encoding, learning condition, retrieval practice and suitable materials to be used in learning. Results from the descriptive analysis showed that the use of encoding through acoustic, visual semantic and elaborative methods has become students’ choices in program learning, while the appropriate learning condition by students with the highest mean value of 4.0694 is through repetitive practices or individual tests to improve memory in learning. The three retrieval practices which are free recall, serial recall and cue recall, receive the highest interpretation other than using hardcopy materials and computer application in learning. Students’ learning approaches were different depending on suitability and comfort. Thus, educators should realize this and the effort of adapting learning between students’ choices and Java Programming course which could create an effective learning environment for all students. The results of the study are hoped to provide important knowledge in improving program learning, generally, and at vocational institutions, specifically, for computer programming courses.

EvoParsons: design, implementation and preliminary evaluation of evolutionary Parsons puzzle

The automated design of a set of practice problems that co-adapts to a population of learners is a challenging problem. Fortunately, coevolutionary computation offers a rich framework to study interactions between two co-adapting populations of teachers and learners. This framework is also relevant in scenarios in which a population of students solve practice exercises that are synthesized by an evolutionary algorithm. In this study, we propose to leverage coevolutionary optimization to evolve a population of Parsons puzzles (a relatively recent new type of practice exercise for novice computer programmers). To this end, we start by experimenting with successive simulations that progressively introduce the characteristics that we anticipate finding in our target application. Using these simulations, we refine a set of guidelines that capture insights on how to successfully coevolve Parsons puzzles. These guidelines are then used to implement the proposed “EvoParsons” software, with which we conduct preliminary evaluations on real human students enrolled in an introductory Java programming course at the University of South Florida. We also propose several quantitative metrics to assess the quality of puzzles produced by EvoParsons. Both simulations and experiments establish the feasibility of evolving pedagogically relevant practice problems that cover most of the dimensions underlying the interactions between problems and students. In addition, a generation-by-generation detailed analysis of the evolving population of Parsons puzzles confirms the occurrence of incremental improvements that can be explained in pedagogical terms.

Concept–based Analysis of Java Programming Errors among Low, Average and High Achieving Novice Programmers

Aim/Purpose: The study examined types of errors made by novice programmers in different Java concepts with students of different ability levels in programming as well as the perceived causes of such errors. Background: To improve code writing and debugging skills, efforts have been made to taxonomize programming errors and their causes. However, most of the studies employed omnibus approaches, i.e. without consideration of different programing concepts and ability levels of the trainee programmers. Such concepts and ability specific errors identification and classifications are needed to advance appropriate intervention strategy. Methodology: A sequential exploratory mixed method design was adopted. The sample was an intact class of 124 Computer Science and Engineering undergraduate students grouped into three achievement levels based on first semester performance in a Java programming course. The submitted codes in the course of second semester exercises were analyzed for possible errors, categorized and grouped across achievement level. The resulting data were analyzed using descriptive statistics as well as Pearson product correlation coefficient. Qualitative analyses through interviews and focused group discussion (FGD) were also employed to identify reasons for the committed errors. Contribution:The study provides a useful concept-based and achievement level specific error log for the teaching of Java programming for beginners. Findings: The results identified 598 errors with Missing symbols (33%) and Invalid symbols (12%) constituting the highest and least committed errors respec-tively. Method and Classes concept houses the highest number of errors (36%) followed by Other Object Concepts (34%), Decision Making (29%), and Looping (10%). Similar error types were found across ability levels. A significant relationship was found between missing symbols and each of Invalid symbols and Inappropriate Naming. Errors made in Methods and Classes were also found to significantly predict that of Other Object concepts. Recommendations for Practitioners: To promote better classroom practice in the teaching of Java programming, findings for the study suggests instructions to students should be based on achievement level. In addition to this, learning Java programming should be done with an unintelligent editor. Recommendations for Researchers: Research could examine logic or semantic errors among novice programmers as the errors analyzed in this study focus mainly on syntactic ones. Impact on Society: The digital age is code-driven, thus error analysis in programming instruction will enhance programming ability, which will ultimately transform novice programmers into experts, particularly in developing countries where most of the software in use is imported. Future Research: Researchers could look beyond novice or beginner programmers as codes written by intermediate or even advanced programmers are still not often completely error free.