Authors:
Eduard Frankford
;
Daniel Crazzolara
;
Clemens Sauerwein
;
Michael Vierhauser
and
Ruth Breu
Affiliation:
University of Innsbruck, Institute of Computer Science, Technikerstraße 21a, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Keyword(s):
Programming Education, Automated Programming Assessment Systems, Integrated Development Environments, Requirements, Online IDE.
Abstract:
More and more introductory programming courses are being held online, using Automated Programming Assessment Systems (APASs). Some APASs provide online editors where students can solve and submit their exercises, because some course teachers want to avoid that students have to set up an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) on their PCs, fearing that this could increase the entry barrier to the course. However, most of the available online editors for APASs only provide rudimentary programming support, making it harder to write code and, therefore, have the undesired side effect of increasing the entry barrier to learning programming. To gain a better understanding of the requirements of an online IDE for APASs, we conducted a survey asking 48 APASs users to give their opinions on the importance of different online IDE features. Based on their responses we derived a set of main requirements for an online IDE within APASs. The survey was complemented by a tool review of state-of-th
e-art online IDEs, to see whether existing online IDEs meet the requirements. Finally, we evaluated whether the online IDEs can be integrated within APASs. This study establishes a framework for online IDEs tailored to APASs, creating the foundation for subsequent improvements.
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