results from the evaluation of the effectiveness of an online tutor on expression evaluation
Researchers have been developing online tutors for various disciplines, including Computer Science. Educators are increasingly using online tutors to supplement their courses. Are online tutors effective? Can they help students learn? If so, what features contribute to their effectiveness? We will examine these questions in the context of an online tutor that we developed for introductory Computer Science. The tutor is designed to help students learn expression evaluation in C++/Java.We evaluated the tutor over several years, in multiple sections of Computer Science I each year. We used controlled tests with differential treatments, and used pre and post-tests to evaluate the effectiveness of the tutor. Our results show that online tutors indeed help students learn. Students who use the tutor for practice learn better than those who use a printed workbook. Students who receive both graphic visualization and text explanation learn better than those who receive only graphic visualization. Students who use graphic visualization learn better than those who receive no explanation. These results will be of interest to both developers and users of online tutors.
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