Understanding and Improving Student Note-Taking in Live Coding Lectures

Abstract

Background and Motivation. Live coding is a common pedagogical technique where instructors write code in real time during lectures. For students, the main drawbacks of live coding are that it can feel too fast and it can be difficult to take notes. Objectives. Our work seeks to improve the student experience in live coding lectures by: (1) understanding how instructors expect students to take notes and what challenges students face in doing so; and (2) investigating whether a specialized note-taking tool can help students keep up with the pace of the lecture and take better notes. Methods. Based on interviews with instructors who use live coding (n=10), we designed a simple note-taking interface consisting of a rich text editor which allows students to take snapshots of the instructor’s code. We conducted a within-subjects lab experiment (n=57) comparing our interface with a traditional code editor during two 15-minute live coding lectures. We used quizzes and surveys to assess learning, mental workload, and student perceptions, and analyzed students’ notes to determine how much information was captured from the lecture. Findings. In the experimental condition, NASA-TLX surveys indicated a significantly lower mentalworkload and students reported that they could more easily keep up with the lecture. Additionally, students perceived their notes to be more useful and our analysis revealed that the notes had significantly more information from the lecture and provided more context for copied code. Despite these benefits, we did not see a significant difference in learning between the two conditions. Implications. Our results show that during live coding lectures, we can decrease student mental workload and increase the quality of notes by providing an interface which (1) allows capturing the instructor’s code without having to type it out; and (2) maintains a clear visual distinction between code snippets and other text. Future work may examine if such an interface can lead to learning gains over long-term use in the classroom.