Supporting skill integration in an intelligent tutoring system for code tracing.

Background: Skill integration is vital in students' mastery development and is especially prominent in developing code tracing skills which are foundational to programming, an increasingly important area in the current STEM education. However, instructional design to support skill integration in lea...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Journal of Computer Assisted Learning Vol. 39; no. 2; pp. 477 - 501
Autores principales: Huang, Yun, Brusilovsky, Peter, Guerra, Julio, Koedinger, Kenneth, Schunn, Christian
Formato: equations & formulas pictorial research tables/charts Journal Article
Publicado: Wiley-Blackwell Apr2023
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=162203179&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: ccm
    uiTerm: 162203179
    longDbName: CINAHL Complete
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    dissinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        02664909
        6M1
      jtl: Journal of Computer Assisted Learning
      issn: 02664909
      maglogo: Y
    pubinfo:
      dt: Apr2023
      vid: 39
      iid: 2
      pid: 480
      pub: Wiley-Blackwell
      place: Malden, Massachusetts
    artinfo:
      ui:
        162203179
        160416368
        162203179
        162203179
        10.1111/jcal.12757
        162203179
      ppf: 477
      ppct: 24
      formats:
      tig:
        atl: Supporting skill integration in an intelligent tutoring system for code tracing.
      aug:
        au:
          Huang, Yun
          Brusilovsky, Peter
          Guerra, Julio
          Koedinger, Kenneth
          Schunn, Christian
        affil: Human‐Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania,, USA
      sug:
        subj:
          Learning Theory
          Software
          Skill Acquisition
          Programming Languages Education
          Human
          Knowbots
          Problem Solving
          Male
          Female
          Students, Undergraduate
          Descriptive Statistics
          Mediation Analysis
          Confidence Intervals
          T-Tests
          Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test
          Male
          Female
      ab: Background: Skill integration is vital in students' mastery development and is especially prominent in developing code tracing skills which are foundational to programming, an increasingly important area in the current STEM education. However, instructional design to support skill integration in learning technologies has been limited. Objectives: The current work presents the development and empirical evaluation of instructional design targeting students' difficulties in code tracing particularly in integrating component skills in the Trace Table Tutor (T3), an intelligent tutoring system. Methods: Beyond the instructional features of active learning, step‐level support, and individualized problem selection of intelligent tutoring systems (ITS), the instructional design of T3 (e.g., hints, problem types, problem selection) was optimized to target skill integration based on a domain model where integrative skills were represented as combinations of component skills. We conducted an experimental study in a university‐level introductory Python programming course and obtained three findings. Results and Conclusions: First, the instructional features of the ITS technology support effective learning of code tracing, as evidenced by significant learning gains (medium‐to‐large effect sizes). Second, performance data supports the existence of integrative skills beyond component skills. Third, an instructional design focused on integrative skills yields learning benefits beyond a design without such focus, such as improving performance efficiency (medium‐to‐large effect sizes). Major Takeaways: Our work demonstrates the value of designing for skill integration in learning technologies and the effectiveness of the ITS technology for computing education, as well as provides general implications for designing learning technologies to foster robust learning. Lay Description: What is currently known about the subject matter?: Skill integration is vital in students' mastery development, and is especially prominent in developing coding tracing skills.Coding tracing skills are foundational to programming, an increasingly important area in the current STEM education, yet many novice students struggle with code tracing.Instructional design to support skill integration in learning technologies has been limited.One of the most effective technologies for skill mastery, intelligent tutoring systems (ITS), is underused or only used in a partial form in programming education. What our paper adds to this?: We present the development and empirical evaluation of instructional design targeting students' difficulties in code tracing particularly in integrating component skills in an ITS, the Trace Table Tutor.The instructional features of the ITS technology (e.g., active learning, step‐level support, individualized problem selection) support effective learning of code tracing.Students' performance data supports the existence of integrative skills beyond component skills.An instructional design that provides deliberate practice and focused practice on integrative skills yields learning benefits beyond a design without such features. The implications of study findings for practitioners: Designing for skill integration is valuable and should receive more attention in designing learning technologies to foster robust learning.The instructional features of full‐scale ITSs are effective in supporting learning and merit further application in learning technologies in computing education.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        equations & formulas
        pictorial
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
    refInfo:
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N