Methods, systems, and computer program products for user paced learning based on historical programming errors and solutions using electronic flash cards

A method includes performing operations as follows on a processor: indexing a database of records for a topic based on a training suitability criterion, the records comprising programming errors and associated resolutions; generating a deck of electronic flash cards containing training questions thereon, respectively, from the database of records based on the training suitability criterion; and displaying the electronic flash cards.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to computing systems, and, in particular, to computing systems that are used to deliver educational or training material.

Ongoing education and training of employees may be important to the success or a business or company. An employee's ability to absorb and understand new concepts may affect that employee's personal success directly and the success of the company indirectly. Both personal and organizational development can stagnate, however, without an effective means of delivering educational and training materials.

Conventional education techniques focus on periods of intense training. These training sessions may be in the form of 30 minute webinars or may be offsite seminars that last for several days and involve numerous classroom and practical sessions. One common attribute of these conventional education techniques is that the student is expected to dedicate a block of time to assimilate the material.

While conventional education techniques can be effective, they may introduce a hidden cost: While students set aside time to attend or view lectures, participate in breakout groups, and the like, they are not able to do anything else, i.e., make progress on their daily work tasks. Indeed, instructors often discourage students from checking emails associated with work or other distractions so that the students' full attentions can be focused on learning the course material. When students do return to their daily jobs, there is often a readjustment phase associated with becoming reacquainted with daily tasks and catching up on what was missed while attending the educational course. The readjustment phase may be particularly difficult for individuals who work in high complex and/or technical roles.

In the field of software development, numerous books, education programs, and videos attempt to teach both the basic principles of a programming language, such as C++, as well as more advanced features of the language. While the quality of such training materials and programs may be generally high, the effort involved to create the training materials may be extensive and the resulting training materials may not always be tailored to the broad range of real-world scenarios that a software developer may encounter on the job.

There may also be a shortfall when a new employee begins work on an established or legacy project for the first time. The employee may know the programming language well, but not the design, layout, and/or common pitfalls associated with the legacy project. Training is often done on a trial-and-error basis where the developer learns on the job. In some cases, the new developer may be shadowed by a more senior developer and/or may be given internal project documentation to study.

SUMMARY

In some embodiments of the inventive subject matter, a method comprises performing operations as follows on a processor: indexing a database of records for a topic based on a training suitability criterion, the records comprising programming errors and associated resolutions; generating a deck of electronic flash cards containing training questions thereon, respectively, from the database of records based on the training suitability criterion; and displaying the electronic flash cards.

In other embodiments, a system comprises a processor and a memory coupled to the processor and comprising computer readable program code embodied in the memory that when executed by the processor causes the processor to perform operations comprising: indexing a database of records for a topic based on a training suitability criterion, the records comprising programming errors and associated resolutions; generating a deck of electronic flash cards containing training questions thereon, respectively, from the database of records based on the training suitability criterion; and displaying the electronic flash cards.

In further embodiments, a computer program product comprises a tangible computer readable storage medium comprising computer readable program code embodied in the medium that when executed by a processor causes the processor to perform operations comprising: indexing a database of records for a topic based on a training suitability criterion, the records comprising programming errors and associated resolutions; generating a deck of electronic flash cards containing training questions thereon, respectively, from the database of records based on the training suitability criterion; and displaying the electronic flash cards.

It is noted that aspects of the inventive concepts described with respect to one embodiment may be incorporated in a different embodiments although not specifically described relative thereto. That is, all embodiments and/or features of any embodiments can be combined in any way and/or combination. These and other objects and/or aspects of the present inventive concepts are explained in detail in the specification set forth below.

Other methods, systems, articles of manufacture, and/or computer program products according to embodiments of the inventive subject matter will be or become apparent to one with skill in the art upon review of the following drawings and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, articles of manufacture, and/or computer program products be included within this description, be within the scope of the present inventive subject matter, and be protected by the accompanying claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As used herein, data are raw, unorganized facts that need to be processed. Data can be something simple and seemingly random and useless until it is organized. When data are processed, organized, structured or presented in a given context so as to make it useful, it is called information.

Some embodiments of the inventive subject matter stem from a realization that conventional education techniques typically require a student to devote a block of time to focus on the subject matter being taught whether through a live lecture, online webinar, breakout groups where the student participates in exercises, or the like. By focusing solely on the subject matter being taught, however, the student is often unable to or discouraged from multi-tasking and devoting some attention to other work or tasks. Moreover, in the field of software development for example, training materials may not always be tailored to the range of real-world scenarios that a software developer may encounter on the job, such as common pitfalls associated with a legacy project.

Some embodiments of the inventive subject matter may provide training methods, systems, and computer program products that make use of a database of records for a topic where the records comprise programming errors and associated resolutions. The database of records may be indexed based on one or more training suitability criterion to obtain the records corresponding to the errors and resolutions that may be the most effective in training. A deck of electronic flash cards may be generated based on the records that are determined as having the greatest training suitability. Because the electronic flash cards are generated based on a historical database of actual errors and resolutions, the training material may be more closely related to the real-life difficulties encountered by software developers. The electronic flash card generation may be automated and the electronic flash cards reviewed by a subject matter expert to eliminate errors in the questions/answers. Automatically generating the flash cards based on the database of historical errors and resolutions may save the time of an instructor or training course developer in developing training/educational materials.

The use of electronic flash cards may allow a software developer to receive educational information at a pace that allows the developer to absorb the information while also maintaining focus on one or more other tasks. Such a system may allow a company or business, for example, to provide training materials to their employees while allowing their employees to carry out their everyday work roles. The employees' efficiency in carrying out their tasks may be reduced slightly or a negligible amount while still learning the new material as the new material may be learned and retained while taking periodic breaks from their everyday tasks. Such an approach is generally more efficient than having employees stop working entirely on their regular jobs to focus entirely on training and then return to their regular jobs once training is complete as there is a readjustment phase where the employees need to get reacquainted with what they were working on before stopping to focus on the education or training material.

In accordance with various embodiments of the inventive subject matter, the student or user can adjust the pace at which the training questions are presented. The questions may comprise multiple choice and/or short answer questions. The user may provide input to set the ratio of multiple choice questions to short answer questions. The system may keep track of a user's score based on the number of questions answered correctly/incorrectly to provide the user and/or a manager associated with the user feedback on how well the user is learning the material. Decks of electronic flashcards may be developed for a variety of topics having a historical database of errors and associated resolutions allowing course developers to develop a curriculum of educational materials for training users.

Some embodiments of the inventive subject matter may provide a user paced learning environment based on historical programming errors and resolutions through the cloud. Cloud computing is a computing paradigm where shared resources, such as processor(s), software, and information, are provided to computers and other devices on demand typically over a network, such as the Internet. In a cloud computing environment, details of the computing infrastructure, e.g., processing power, data storage, bandwidth, and/or other resources are abstracted from the user. The user does not need to have any expertise in or control over such computing infrastructure resources. Cloud computing typically involves the provision of dynamically scalable and/or virtualized resources over the Internet. A user may access and use such resources through the use of a Web browser. A typical cloud computing provider may provide an online application that can be accessed over the Internet using a browser. The cloud computing provider, however, maintains the software for the application and some or all of the data associated with the application on servers in the cloud, i.e., servers that are maintained by the cloud computing provider rather than the users of the application.

FIG. 1illustrates a conventional cloud service model that includes Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Infrastructure as a Service, delivers computer infrastructure—typically a platform virtualization environment—as a service. Rather than purchasing servers, software, data-center space or network equipment, clients instead buy those resources as a fully outsourced service. Suppliers typically bill such services on a utility computing basis and the amount of resources consumed. Platform as a Service delivers a computing platform as a service. It provides an environment for the deployment of applications without the need for a client to buy and manage the underlying hardware and software layers. Software as a Service delivers software services over the Internet, which reduces or eliminates the need for the client to install and run an application on its own computers, which may simplify maintenance and support.

Virtualized computing environments may be used to provide computing resources to end users. In a cloud computing environment, the physical hardware configuration is hidden from the end user. Cloud computing systems may include servers, network storage devices, routers, gateways, communication links, and other devices. Because the physical hardware and software platforms on which cloud computing system is implemented are hidden within a “cloud,” they can be managed, upgraded, replaced or otherwise changed by a system administrator without the customer being aware of or affected by the change.

In a typical cloud computing environment, applications may be executed on virtual machines, which are isolated guest operating systems installed within a host system. Virtual machines are typically implemented with either software emulation or hardware virtualization, or both. A single hardware and/or software platform may host a number of virtual machines, each of which may have access to some portion of the platform's resources, such as processing resources, storage resources, etc.

FIG. 2illustrates an exemplary server system100for a virtualized computing environment in which the inventive subject matter of the present disclosure can function. The server system100generally hosts one or more virtual machines104(hereafter virtual machine104), each of which runs a guest operating system106and application108. The computing needs of users102drive the functionality of the virtual machines104. A virtual hypervisor110provides an interface between the virtual machines104and a host operating system112and allows multiple guest operating systems106and associated applications108to run concurrently. The host operating system112handles the operations of a hardware platform114capable of implementing virtual machines104. A data storage space116may be accessed by the host operating system112and is connected to the hardware platform114.

The hardware platform114generally refers to any computing system capable of implementing virtual machines104, which may include, without limitation, a mainframe, personal computer (PC), micro-computer, handheld computer, mobile computing platform, server, or any other appropriate computer hardware. The hardware platform114may include computing resources, such as a central processing unit (CPU); networking controllers; communication controllers; a display unit; a program and data storage device; memory controllers; input devices (e.g., a keyboard, a mouse, etc.) and output devices, such as printers. The CPU may be any conventional processor, such as the AMD Athlon™ 64, or Intel® Core™ Duo.

The hardware platform114may be further connected to the data storage space116through serial or parallel connections. The data storage space116may be any suitable device capable of storing computer-readable data and instructions, and it may include logic in the form of software applications, random access memory (RAM), or read only memory (ROM), removable media, or any other suitable memory component. According to the illustrated embodiment, the host operating system112stands between the hardware platform114and the users102and is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the computing resources. In other embodiments, the virtual hypervisor runs directly on the hardware114without the intervening host operating system112.

Although some embodiments of the computer system100can be configured to operate as a computer server, the computer system100is not limited thereto and can be configured to provide other functionality, such as data processing, communications routing, etc.

Besides acting as a host for computing applications that run on the hardware platform114, the host operating system112may operate at the highest priority level in the server100, executing instructions associated with the hardware platform114, and it may have exclusive privileged access to the hardware platform114. The priority and privileged access of hardware resources affords the host operating system112exclusive control over resources and instructions, and may preclude interference with the execution of different application programs or the operating system. The host operating system112creates an environment for implementing a virtual machine, hosting the “guest” virtual machine. One host operating system112is capable of implementing multiple isolated virtual machines simultaneously.

A virtual hypervisor110(which may also be known as a virtual machine monitor or VMM) runs on the host operating system112and provides an interface between the virtual machines104and the hardware platform114through the host operating system112. The virtual hypervisor110virtualizes the computing system resources and facilitates the operation of the virtual machines104. The hypervisor110may provide the illusion of operating at the highest priority level to the guest operating systems106. The virtual hypervisor110maps the guest operating system's priority level to a priority level lower than the top most priority level. As a result, the virtual hypervisor110can intercept the guest operating system106to execute instructions that require virtualization assistance. Alternatively, the virtual hypervisor110may emulate or actually execute the instructions on behalf of the guest operating system106. Software operations permitting indirect interaction between the guest operating system106and the physical hardware platform114are also performed by the virtual hypervisor110.

Virtual machines104present a virtualized environment to guest operating systems106, which in turn provide an operating environment for applications108and other software constructs.

Referring toFIG. 3, a virtualized computing environment200(referred to generally as cloud200) may include one or more server systems100that may include one or more electronic computing devices operable to receive, transmit, process, and store data. For example, the servers in the cloud200may include one or more general-purpose PCs, Macintoshes, micro-computers, workstations, Unix-based computers, server computers, one or more server pools, or any other suitable devices. In certain embodiments, the cloud200may include a web server. In short, the cloud200may include any suitable combination of software, firmware, and hardware.

The cloud200may include a plurality of server systems100that are communicatively coupled via a network112. The network112facilitates wireless or wireline communication, and may communicate using, for example, IP packets, Frame Relay frames, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) cells, voice, video, data, and other suitable information between network addresses. The network112may include one or more local area networks (LANs), radio access networks (RANs), metropolitan area networks (MANS), wide area networks (WANs), all or a portion of the global computer network known as the Internet, and/or any other communication system or systems at one or more locations. Although referred to herein as “server systems,” it will be appreciated that any suitable computing device may be used.

Virtual machines and/or other objects in a virtualization environment can be grouped into logical clusters for management and/or operational purposes. For example, virtual machines can be grouped into clusters based on load balancing needs, security needs, redundancy needs, or any other needs as determined by a system administrator. The virtual machines grouped within a cluster may or may not all be implemented on a single physical server. Any desired number of clusters can be defined subject to system limitations, and each of the clusters can include any desired number of virtual machines subject to server limitations.

Virtual machines can be deployed in particular virtualization environments and organized to increase the efficiency of operating and/or managing a virtual computing environment. For example, virtual machines may be grouped into clusters to provide load balancing across multiple servers.

Virtual machines within a same cluster can be managed by a single virtualization environment manager to have same or similar resource access privileges (e.g., processor utilization, priority, memory allocation, communication interface access privileges, etc.), while virtual machines within different clusters can have different resource access privileges.

Virtual machines that are deployed within a single cluster may share physical resources within a server. For example, virtual machines that are deployed within a single cluster may share physical memory, storage, communication facilities and other resources or services of a server. Whenever computing resources are shared, there is the possibility that one virtual machine could intentionally or unintentionally gain access to data of another virtual machine.

Referring toFIG. 4, a user paced learning environment based on historical programming errors and resolutions400, in accordance with some embodiments of the inventive subject matter, comprises end user devices402,405, and410that are coupled to a user paced learning server415via a network420. The network420may be a global network, such as the Internet or other publicly accessible network. Various elements of the network420may be interconnected by a wide area network, a local area network, an Intranet, and/or other private network, which may not be accessible by the general public. Thus, the communication network420may represent a combination of public and private networks or a virtual private network (VPN). The network420may be a wireless network, a wireline network, or may be a combination of both wireless and wireline networks. The end user devices402,405,410may represent wired and/or wireless devices that provide a display for the end user and via which the end user may communicate with the user paced learning server415.

The user paced learning server415is coupled to a program error/resolution database425. As shown inFIG. 4, the user paced learning server415is coupled directly to the program error/resolution database425. In other embodiments, the user paced learning server415and program error/resolution database425may be coupled using various types of network connections, such as those that may comprise network420. The program error/resolution database425may store records that comprise errors encountered during build (e.g., compile, link, etc.) and/or run time for a topic along with the associated resolutions for these errors. The resolutions may include, but are not limited to, source code changes to a program, data changes to a program (e.g., header file changes), build or compile script changes (e.g., change which libraries are included in a build/compile), and the like. The topic may be associated with, but is not limited to, a software development project, a particular product, a programming language, and/or a programming lesson or technique. Multiple instances of the program error/resolution database425may be used to create databases containing error/resolution records for different topics. The program error/resolution database425may be implemented using any suitable database management system and database model (e.g., relational, network, object, etc.). Examples of a program error/resolution database425according to some embodiments of the inventive subject matter are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/222,045 entitled “DEVELOPMENT TOOLS FOR LOGGING AND ANALYZING SOFTWARE BUGS” filed Mar. 21, 2014 the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. The user paced learning server415may be configured to generate electronic flash cards from the database of records contained in the program error/resolution database425that have the greatest training suitability.

It will be appreciated that in accordance with various embodiments of the inventive subject matter, the user paced learning server415may be implemented as a single server, separate servers, or a network of servers either co-located in a server farm, for example, or located in different geographic regions.

As shown inFIG. 4, some embodiments according to the inventive subject matter can operate in a logically separated client side/server side-computing environment, sometimes referred to hereinafter as a client/server environment. The client/server environment is a computational architecture that involves a client process (i.e., client devices402,405and410) requesting service from a server process (i.e., user paced learning server415). In general, the client/server environment maintains a distinction between processes, although client and server processes may operate on different machines or on the same machine. Accordingly, the client and server sides of the client/server environment are referred to as being logically separated. Usually, when client and server processes operate on separate devices, each device can be customized for the needs of the respective process. For example, a server process can “run on” a system having large amounts of memory and disk space, whereas the client process often “runs on” a system having a graphic user interface provided by high-end video cards and large-screen displays.

The clients and servers can communicate using a standard communications mode, such as Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP), SOAP, XML-RPC, and/or WSDL. According to the HTTP request-response communications model, HTTP requests are sent from the client to the server and HTTP responses are sent from the server to the client in response to an HTTP request. In operation, the server waits for a client to open a connection and to request information, such as a Web page. In response, the server sends a copy of the requested information to the client, closes the connection to the client, and waits for the next connection. It will be understood that the server can respond to requests from more than one client.

AlthoughFIG. 4illustrates an exemplary user paced learning environment based on historical programming errors and resolutions, it will be understood that embodiments of the inventive subject matter are not limited to such configurations, but are intended to encompass any configuration capable of carrying out the operations described herein.

FIG. 5illustrates a data processing system500that may be used, for example, to implement the user paced learning server415ofFIG. 4and may include a module for providing a user paced learning course, in accordance with some embodiments of the inventive subject matter. The data processing system500comprises input device(s)505, such as a keyboard or keypad, a display510, and a memory515that communicate with a processor520. The data processing system200may further comprise a storage system525, a speaker530, and an I/O data port(s)535that also communicate with the processor520. The storage system525may include removable and/or fixed media, such as floppy disks, ZIP drives, hard disks, or the like as well as virtual storage such as a RAMDISK. The I/O data port(s)535may be used to transfer information between the data processing system500and another computer system or a network (e.g., the Internet). These components may be conventional components, such as those used in many conventional computing devices, and their functionality, with respect to conventional operations, is generally known to those skilled in the art. The memory515may be configured with a programming error based training module540that may provide functionality to make use of a database of records for a topic (i.e., program error/resolution database425) where the records comprise programming errors and associated resolutions. The database of records may be indexed based on one or more training suitability criterion to obtain the records corresponding to the errors and resolutions that may be the most effective in training. A deck of electronic flash cards may be generated based on the records that are determined as having the greatest training suitability.

FIG. 6illustrates a processor600and memory605that may be used in embodiments of data processing systems, such as the data processing system500ofFIG. 5, for implementing the user paced learning server415in accordance with some embodiments of the inventive subject matter. The processor600communicates with the memory605via an address/data bus610. The processor600may be, for example, a commercially available or custom microprocessor. The memory605is representative of the one or more memory devices containing the software and data used to provide a user paced learning environment based on historical programming errors and resolutions in accordance with some embodiments of the inventive subject matter. The memory605may include, but is not limited to, the following types of devices: cache, ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash, SRAM, and DRAM.

As shown inFIG. 6, the memory605may contain five or more categories of software and/or data: an operating system615, a user interface module630, an indexer module635, a training question card generator module645, and a flash card deck(s) module655. The operating system615generally controls the operation of the data processing system. In particular, the operating system615may manage the data processing system's software and/or hardware resources and may coordinate execution of programs by the processor600. The user interface module630may be used to control the display on a user's device when interacting with the user paced learning server415. Specifically, the user interface module630may be used to receive input from a user and may also allow the user to configure the screen with respect to how the electronic flash cards are displayed. For example, the user may provide input through the user interface module630to select a topic for training, to input answers to questions on the flash cards, whether multiple choice or short answer, and/or to select a ratio of multiple choice questions to short answer questions. The indexer module635may be configured to order the records in the program error/resolution database425for a topic. Typically, not all programming errors and their associated resolutions are good candidates for electronic flash cards to train a user. The indexer module635may order the programming error/resolution records in the program error/resolution database425for a topic in order based on one or more training suitability criterion.

The training card question generator module645may be configured to generate a deck of electronic flash cards for a topic, which contain training questions thereon from the records identified by the indexer module635as having the greatest training suitability. The deck may contain N electronic flash cards where the number N is, in some embodiments, provided by the user. The training question card generator645may generate electronic flash cards having a multiple choice and/or short answer format in accordance with various embodiments of the inventive subject matter.FIG. 7illustrates an electronic flash card template that can be used to generate a short answer electronic flash card based on a record containing a programming error and resolution from the program error/resolution database425according to some embodiments of the inventive subject matter.FIG. 8illustrates an electronic flash card template that can be used to generate a multiple choice electronic flash card based on a record containing a programming error and resolution from the program error/resolution database425according to some embodiments of the inventive subject matter. The flash card deck(s) module655may represent the various decks of electronic flash cards associated with different learning topics. There may one or more decks covering a single or multiple topics. Each deck may include one or more electronic flash cards containing multiple choice and/or short answer questions.

FIG. 9is a diagram that illustrates a record taken from the program error/resolution database425that identifies a programming error along with an associated solution to the error according to some embodiments of the inventive subject matter. The record ofFIG. 9includes a tag field, which is indicative that the error and solution information contained in the error has been found relevant by one or more developers in resolving another error. Software developers may review the records contained in the program error/resolution database425when resolving an error and tag those records that are relevant in coming up with a solution to a current error.FIG. 10is a block diagram that illustrates an electronic flash card generated by the training question card generator module645in which the record ofFIG. 9has been used to create a multiple choice question electronic flash card according to some embodiments of the inventive subject matter.FIG. 11is a block diagram that illustrates an electronic flash card generated by the training question card generator module645in which the record ofFIG. 9has been used to create a short answer question electronic flash card according to some embodiments of the inventive subject matter.

AlthoughFIG. 6illustrates exemplary hardware/software architectures that may be used in data processing systems, such as the data processing system500ofFIG. 5, for implementing the user paced learning server415in accordance with some embodiments of the inventive subject matter, it will be understood that the present invention is not limited to such a configuration but is intended to encompass any configuration capable of carrying out operations described herein. Moreover, the functionality of the data processing system500ofFIG. 5and the hardware/software architecture ofFIG. 6may be implemented as a single processor system, a multi-processor system, a multi-core processor system, or even a network of stand-alone computer systems, in accordance with various embodiments.

Operations of a user paced learning environment according to some embodiments of the inventive subject matter will now be described with respect to the flow chart ofFIG. 12. A user wishing to begin a training session may select a topic via the user interface630. The topic may be, for example, associated with a product, a project, a programming lesson or technique, or the like. In some embodiments, the user paced learning environment may incorporate security via, for example, a user login procedure. Once logged in via user name and password, for example, a user may generate decks of electronic flash cards for particular topics that the user has selected and/or may generate one or more decks of electronic flash cards for topics that the user's supervisor has assigned to the user. The user may also select the ratio of multiple choice questions to short answer questions to be presented by the electronic flash cards. At block900, the indexer module635may index or order the programming error/resolution database425records for the topic based on one or more training suitability criteria. In accordance with various embodiments of the inventive subject matter, the training suitability criteria may include, but are not limited to, the following: an extent of code changes made for each respective one of the resolutions (preference may be given to resolutions involving fewer code changes as a flashcard may be more effective when the user is not asked to identify or make extensive code changes to answer a question); a distribution of locations in a program where the code changes are made (preference may be given to resolutions involving code changes within a limited area, such as a single function, method, data structure, or the like); a number of tags associated with each respective one of the resolutions indicating respective ones of the resolutions are helpful or relevant (preference may be given to resolutions tagged more often as being helpful or relevant as highly tagged resolutions may indicate that the type of error is often encountered and developers are able to use the exact resolution); ages associated with the resolutions, respectively (preference may be given to more recent resolutions as the risk that a resolution is no longer appropriate and/or the error unlikely to be encountered increases with time as the source code evolves); a number of similar error messages and locations associated with each respective one of the resolutions (preference may be given to those resolutions where the error location and the error message are similar as a high quantity of similar errors may indicate that an error is more likely to occur in the future); an indication that the respective one of the resolutions resulted in a successful compile of the program (preference may be given to resolutions that result in a clean compile or at least no new compile errors as the presence of new error messages may indicate a risk that the resolution is faulty); and/or a number of failed attempts at resolving each respective one of the programming errors.

At block910, the training question card generator module645generates a deck of N flash cards that contains training questions based on the N records identified by the indexer module635as having the greatest training suitability based on the one or more training suitability criteria. In some embodiments, the user may select the number N based on the number of flash cards desired for a training session.

At block920the electronic flash cards are displayed on the user's device by sequencing through the flash cards in the deck in response to the user answering the respective question presented on each card. Based on the user's answers to these questions, a score may be generated based on the number of questions the user answered correctly and the user may be provided with the score to allow the user to evaluate how well the user is learning the material being presented. This score may also be communicated to a manager associated with the user to allow the manager to evaluate how well an employee, for example, is learning the material.

The embodiments of methods, systems, and computer program products described herein may provide a user paced learning environment that delivers questions for a particular topic through the use of electronic flash cards. The questions are based on a database of records for the topic that contains programming errors and associated resolutions to those errors. This may allow the user to more quickly become productive working on a legacy or established project or product as the user can be exposed to common errors and solutions that have arisen on this project or product.

The electronic flash cards can be delivered over the course of a whole day, for example, while the user is logged on to a computer. This more gradual approach to delivering the educational material may reduce the amount of distraction from the user's normal work tasks and may improve retention of the material being taught. This may be accomplished because the user is allowed to control the period between the presentation of the flash cards based on the rate at which the questions are answered thereby allowing the learning environment to be customized to the user's preferences and multi-tasking capability.

In other embodiments, the electronic flash cards may be downloaded to a client device as an application allowing the user to access the user paced learning functionality when operating a device in stand-alone mode without the need for a network connection. The user paced learning environment according to embodiments of the inventive subject matter may also become more valuable as more records are created in the program error/resolution database that cover additional topics.

Embodiments of the inventive subject matter may combine the uniqueness of a historical database of software or programming errors and solutions with the automatic generation of targeted and accurate training material. The user paced learning environment according to embodiments of the inventive subject matter may be targeted to the needs of training programmers or software developers on specific projects, products, or the like, not just the general syntax and constructs of a programming language.