Feedback 2.0 : an investigation into using sharable feedback tags as programming feedback

Objectives: Learning and teaching computer programming is a recognised challenge in Higher Education. Since feedback is regarded as being the most important part of the learning process, it is expected that improving it could support students’ learning. This thesis aims to investigate how new forms of feedback can improve student learning of programming and how feedback sharing can further enhance the students’ learning experience. Methods: This thesis investigates the use of new forms of feedback for programming courses. The work explores the use of collaborative tagging often found in Web 2.0 software systems and a feedback approach that requires examiners to annotate students source code with short, potentially reusable feedback. The thesis utilises a variety of research methods including questionnaires, focus groups and collection of system usage data recorded from student interactions with their feedback. Sentiment and thematic analysis are used to investigate how well feedback tags communicate the intended message from examiners to students. The approaches used are tested and refined over two preliminary investigations before use in the final investigation. Results: The work identified that a majority of students responded positively to the new feedback approach described. Student engagement was high with up to 100% viewing their feedback and at least 42% of students opting to share their feedback. Students in the cohort who achieved either the lower or higher marks for the assignment appeared more likely to share their feedback. Conclusions: This thesis has demonstrated that sharing of feedback can be useful for disseminating good practice and common pitfalls. Provision of feedback which is contextually rich and textually concise has resulted in higher engagement from students. However, the outcomes of this research have been shown to be influenced by the assessment process adopted by the University. For example, students were more likely to engage with their feedback if marks are unavailable at the time of feedback release. This issue and many others are proposed as further work. Declaration of Authorship I, Stephen Cummins, declare that this thesis titled, ‘Feedback 2.0: An Investigation into Using Sharable Feedback Tags as Programming Feedback’ and the work presented in it are my own. I confirm that no part of the material provided has previously been submitted by the author for a higher degree in Durham University or any other University. All the work presented here is the sole work of the author. This research has been documented or is related, in part, within the publications listed below: • Cummins, S. (2008), ‘TR-TEL-08-05: Changing Programming Feedback Using Web 2.0 Technologies’, Technology Enhanced Learning Research Group Technical Report Series, Durham University, August 2008 • Geldart, J. and Cummins, S. (2009), ’The Automatic Integration of Taxonomies with Folksonomies using Non-Axiomatic Logic’, Information Systems Development: Towards a Service Provision Society • Cummins, S., Burd, L. and Hatch, A. (2009) ‘Folksonomies Of Feedback: Tagging Source Code’, Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Information and Computer Science, 25th-27th August 2009, University of Kent in Caterbury • Cummins, S., Burd, L. and Hatch, A. (2009) ‘Tag Based Feedback for Programming Courses’, ACM SIGCSE inroads Bulletin, 41 (4), December 2009 • Cummins, S., Burd, L. and Hatch, A., (2010) ‘Using Feedback Tags and Sentiment Analysis to Generate Shareable Learning Resources’, In Proceeding of the 10th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, July 5-7, 2010, Sousse, Tunisia • Cummins, S., Burd L. and Hatch, A, (2010) ‘Tags as a Feedback Mechanism in Programming Courses: Analysis to Support Just-in-Time Teaching’, Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Information and Computer Science, 24th26th August 2010, Durham University