Progress reports and novices' understanding of program code

Abstract

This paper introduces progress reports and describes how these can be used as a tool to evaluate student learning and understanding during programming courses. A progress report includes a short piece of program code (on paper), covering topics recently introduced in the course, and four questions. The two first questions are of a "trace and explain" type, asking the students to describe the functionality of the program using their own words - both line by line and as a whole. The two other questions aim at gaining insight into the students' own opinions of their learning, as they are asked to write down what they think they have learned so far in the course and what they have experienced as most difficult. Results from using progress reports in an introductory programming course at secondary level are presented. The responses to the "trace and explain" questions were categorized based on the level of overall understanding manifested. We also analyzed students' understanding of individual programming concepts, both based on their code explanations and on their own opinions on what they had experienced as difficult. Our initial experience from using the progress reports is positive, as we feel that they provide valuable information during the course, which most likely would remain uncovered otherwise.