CommIT (Communication & Information Technology)
Vol. 11 No. 2 (2017): CommIT Journal

The Effectiveness of a Program Visualization Tool on Introductory Programming: A Case Study with PythonTutor

Oscar Karnalim (Maranatha Christian University)
Mewati Ayub (Maranatha Christian University)



Article Info

Publish Date
31 Oct 2017

Abstract

Program Visualization (PV) is an educational tool frequently used to assist users for understanding a program flow. However, despite its clear benefits, PV cannot be incorporated easily on Introductory Programming course. Several key properties such as student characteristics and behavior should be considered beforehand. This paper is intended to provide an empirical review about the impact of PV toward students of Introductory Programming course. For our case study, PythonTutor is selected as a sample of PVs due to its accessibility. It can be accessed anywhere and anytime through a web browser. Three conclusions are obtained based on our evaluation on data collected from a survey. Firstly, PV is quite effective to assist students for conducting several programming sub-tasks. Secondly, PV, at some extent, may help students to learn advanced topics on Introductory Programming course. Finally, despite the fact that several features should be incorporated to enhance understanding of students, PV is beneficial for learning Introductory Programming course, especially when it is frequently used.

Copyrights © 2017






Journal Info

Abbrev

COMMIT

Publisher

Subject

Computer Science & IT

Description

Journal of Communication and Information Technology (CommIT) focuses on various issues spanning: software engineering, mobile technology and applications, robotics, database system, information engineering, artificial intelligent, interactive multimedia, computer networking, information system ...