Enhancing interactiveness of problem-based programming course using anonymous chatting service

Abstract

The interaction between educators and students is important in education. The dynamic interaction between instructor and students in the curriculum, from simple knowledge transfer classes to active Problem-Based Learning classes, is a success in education. Therefore, many educators are making various efforts to encourage student participation. However, in a vertical and conservative culture, class participation is low despite many efforts. Therefore, this study introduces teaching method that utilizes the anonymity of commercial chat service as a way to increase student participation in conservative culture. The anonymity-based method proposed in this study enables commercial chatting service to participate in the learning process anytime and anywhere, and provides an environment in which students can freely ask questions with anonymity. Students can actively interact with other students through chatting service with anonymity, which reduces the teaching overload of professors and assistants. In this paper, we propose a method to draw not only the interaction between the students and the educator but also the interaction among the students by using the chat service which can ask anonymous questions in the educational environment. The case study covers the results of applying this method to real lessons and introduces the pros and cons of the proposed method and future research.