A misconception driven student model to author feedback

Abstract

Getting novice programmers over initial misconceptions is difficult because learning programming is difficult. Practice is one of the best ways for novices to learn. However, in the absence of feedback contextualized to instruction and focused on misconceptions, misconceptions become a difficult hurdle. To improve feedback, I present the Misconception-Driven Student Model (MDSM). MDSM is a cognitive model that lends itself to a framework to scalably deliver Misconception-Driven Feedback (MDF). I show MDF's impact through a quasi-experimental study that indicates that MDF significantly supports programming skill development. I plan on verifying these results by running another experimental study.