{"603172":{"#nid":"603172","#data":{"type":"event","title":"PhD Defense by Barbara Ericson","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETitle: Evaluating the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Parsons Problems and Dynamically Adaptive Parsons Problems as a Type of Low Cognitive Load Practice Problem\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBarbara J. Ericson\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHuman-Centered Computing\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESchool of Interactive Computing\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECollege of Computing\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDate: Monday, March 12, 2018\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETime: 12pm \u0026ndash; 3pm\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELocation: TSRB 222\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECommittee:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDr. Jim Foley (Advisor, School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology)\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDr. Amy Bruckman (School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology)\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDr. Ashok K. Goel (School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology)\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDr. Richard Catrambone (School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology)\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDr. Alan Kay (Computer Science Department, University of California, Los Angeles)\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDr. Mitchel Resnick (Media Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAbstract:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELearning to program can be difficult and time consuming.\u0026nbsp; Learners can spend hours trying to figure out why their program doesn\u0026rsquo;t compile or run correctly. Many countries, including the United States, want to train thousands of secondary teachers\u0026nbsp;to teach\u0026nbsp;programming. \u0026nbsp;However, busy in-service teachers\u0026nbsp;do not have hours to waste on compiler errors or debugging. \u0026nbsp;They\u0026nbsp;need a more efficient way to learn.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOne way to reduce learning time is to use a completion task.\u0026nbsp; Parsons problems are a type of code completion problem in which the learner must place blocks of correct, but mixed up, code in the correct order. Parsons problems can also have distractor blocks, which are not needed in a correct solution.\u0026nbsp; Distractor blocks include common syntax errors like a missing colon on a for loop or semantic errors like the wrong condition on a loop.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn this dissertation, I conducted three studies to compare\u0026nbsp;the efficiency and\u0026nbsp;effectiveness\u0026nbsp;of solving Parsons problems, fixing code, and writing code. I also tested two forms of adaptation.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor the second study,\u0026nbsp;I added intra-problem\u0026nbsp;adaptation,\u0026nbsp;which\u0026nbsp;dynamically makes the current problem easier.\u0026nbsp; For the last study, I added inter-problem adaptation which\u0026nbsp;makes the next problem easier or harder depending on the learner\u0026#39;s performance. \u0026nbsp;The studies\u0026nbsp;provided evidence that students can complete Parsons problems significantly faster than fixing or writing code while achieving the same learning gains from pretest to posttest.\u0026nbsp; The studies also provided evidence that adaptation helped more learners successfully solve Parsons problems.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThese studies were the first to empirically test the efficiency and effectiveness of solving Parsons problems versus fixing and writing code. \u0026nbsp;They were also the first to explore the impact of both intra-problem and inter-problem adaptive Parsons problems.\u0026nbsp; Finding a more efficient and just as effective form of practice could reduce the frustration that many novices feel when learning programming and\u0026nbsp;help\u0026nbsp;prepare thousands of secondary teachers to teach introductory computing courses.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Evaluating the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Parsons Problems and Dynamically Adaptive Parsons Problems as a Type of Low Cognitive Load Practice Problem"}],"uid":"27707","created_gmt":"2018-03-02 01:42:15","changed_gmt":"2018-03-06 16:19:22","author":"Tatianna Richardson","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2018-03-12T13:00:00-04:00","event_time_end":"2018-03-12T16:00:00-04:00","event_time_end_last":"2018-03-12T16:00:00-04:00","gmt_time_start":"2018-03-12 17:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2018-03-12 20:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2018-03-12 20:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"221981","name":"Graduate Studies"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"100811","name":"Phd Defense"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1788","name":"Other\/Miscellaneous"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"78761","name":"Faculty\/Staff"},{"id":"78771","name":"Public"},{"id":"174045","name":"Graduate students"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}