Remote pair programming (RPP) in massively open online courses (MOOCs)

Pair programming, a form of collaborative learning where two programmers work on the same computer, enhances learning in novice programmers and improves code quality in experienced programmers. Remote pair programming (RPP) brings the pedagogical technique of pair programming to the distributed online environment of Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs). edX's CS169 Software as a Service MOOC successfully uses a Google+ community for students to generate their own RPP events or join events created by their peers. This paper examines survey results summarizing the RPP experiences and RPP technologies of student pairings in the Fall 2013 offering of CS169. In the future, the aim is to generalize RPP methodology through analyzing RPP sessions, expand applications of RPP to other MOOCs and traditional classrooms, and compare its effectiveness to in-person pair programming.