Answering by Asking Questions

Presenter: Emil Folino
Förste universitetsadjunkt
Institutionen för datavetenskap

When teaching programming we focus on for-loops, if-statements and execution times of the implemented algorithms. These aspects are all important parts of becoming a good programmer, but in the students future occupation all of this need to be applied within a team setting (Faja, 2011). An important and critical component of team activities is knowledge sharing within the team. A simple but informal way to share knowledge is through asking and answering questions. In a course setting we have the possibility to foster both asking and answering skills related to programming. In this presentation I am going share how I use questions to help students answer their own questions and hopefully learn a little along the way.

Most of these techniques can be transferred to different fields than my field of programming. In an ordinary course setting in my courses the majority of question is answered in a text-based chat. In programming almost everything is text-based which lends itself good to be discussed in a chat. To complement the chat the written material of the course can be used as a reference and further information. Furthermore a FAQ can be used to answer trivial question and free up time for more complex questions.

Presentation: https://best-practice-2021.emilfolino.se 

References: Faja, S. (2011). Pair programming as a team based learning activity: a review of research. Issues in Information Systems, 12(2), 207-216.