Assessment Strategies for Pair Programming

Abstract

Although pair programming has proved its usef ulness in teaching and learning programming skills, it is difficult to assess the individual rol es and abilities of students whilst programming in pairs. (Note that within this manuscript, the te rm assessment refers to evaluating individual stu- dent performance.) Assessing only the outcomes of a pair programming assignment and awarding each member of the pair the same score may not be a reliable reflection of individual programming abilities; it may result in a discrepancy between students’ individual and pair programming marks. The aim of our study was to answer the following ques tion: Do combined self, peer, and facilitator as- sessment strategies for pair programming contribute towards a more reliable assessment of indi- vidual programming abilities? In our study, all three types of assessments were conducted after the completion of every pair programming assignmen t. In each case, we used rubrics containing specific assessment criteria. These rubrics were provided to students at the beginning of every pair programming assignment. The facilitator gave formative feedback to students after comple- tion of a pair programming assignment and thereafter when an individual test was written. To determine whether these specific assessment st rategies could contribute towards a more reli- able way of assessing individual abilities in pair programming situations, the averages of stu- dents’ pair and individual marks were correlated. Moreover, two practical examinations of equal academic standard were conducted at the end of th e course: one for pairs and the other for indi- viduals. A significantly high correlation coeffici ent between the individual and pair examination marks was obtained, indicating that the pair assessment strategies implemented in this study proved to be successful in determining students’ individual programming abilities. The results emerging from this study support the implementation of specific assessment strategies to assess individual programming abilities dur ing pair programming situations.