Identifying misconceptions with active recall in a blended learning system

Abstract

Active recall is a pedagogical technique that improves learning. In this paper we investigate a second benefit of active recall: its use to identify student misconceptions, early on, even before students first solve quizzes, assignments, or exams. We describe our approach to collect recall statements in a blended learning system and perform a small pilot study which shows that using active recall in a programming course can uncover rich sets of student misconceptions about programming.