Employing Distributed Pair Programing In the Introductory Programming Courses Mario Elyezer Subekti Simaremare
Information Systems, Institut Teknologi Del
Jl. Sisingamangaraja, Sitoluama, Laguboti, Kab. Toba, Sumatera Utara
mario[at]del.ac.id
Abstract
COVID-19 pandemic brings a lot of new challenges like never before. Adaptation is a must, which includes our way of learning and teaching. In Indonesia, distance learning is still uncommon. The freshmen are the most vulnerable group of students. They do not have any experience and fundamental knowledge about their field of study. This paper shares our experience in employing the pair programming approach as a part of our distance learning strategy. We applied the approach in the two introductory programming courses available to the freshmen. The grouping was done in both random and clustered approaches. Before the end of the semester, we collected the students^ opinions to evaluate the learning strategy. Based on the results, we conclude that pair programming is very effective to help the students reach the course objectives. However, commitment was reported as the biggest obstacle in the group and further treatment is needed.
