Optimization of practical work for programming courses in the context of distance education

Abstract

To respond to the emergence of new technologies training, Moocs designers and their platforms are more worrying about learners with emphasis on practical work requirements essential for any technical training. Currently, solutions of practical work as a plug-in are available to extend the functionality of distance learning platforms. However these solutions, while integrating video features, audio, chat, screen sharing and audio are generic while the requirements to achieve practical work may differ depending on the specialty. For literary disciplines, learners just need to see and hear the teacher while for others like computer science, teachers and learners need to implement computer programs. Despite the existence of the Screen Sharing feature in the virtual classroom solutions, distance learning platforms do not offer the ability to properly carry out practical work in programming courses. For the latter, it is not only to have visibility into the work of a participant but to create an interactive environment between the participants. This interactivity cannot be managed with screen sharing solutions that consume much bandwidth. Thus, in this paper, we propose an optimization solution of practical work that easily integrates into a distance education platform. The proof of the relevance of our approach has been demonstrated through the implementation of a practical work programming led by a tutor and learners from remote workstations. Our solution not only have a global view of the whole teaching of practical work of the participants but also to interact with each participant while allowing others to monitor these interactions and intervene as necessary. This solution should also allow a participant to make a compilation and/or execution of code that is visible to other participants.