Jeliot 3 in a Demanding Educational Setting

Abstract

We report the preliminary findings of a qualitative investigation into how students approach a program visualization tool, and whether the approach depends on how they are taught to use the tool. Volunteer students in an undergraduate programming course were divided into two groups. One group was taught programming concepts explicitly using the tool, and required to use it to solve weekly exercises and projects, whereas the other group only used the tool on a voluntary basis. We identify those aspects of using the tool which the students find beneficial, and discuss the limitations of the animations provided by Jeliot 3.