On the effectiveness of a collaborative virtual pair-programming environment

Abstract

In this paper, we assess the effectiveness of an extension of Alice, named AliCe-VilLagE, which allows two students to work on the same project, with synchronous communication mechanisms and shared view of the same virtual working environment. The virtual environment supports multi-modal interactions among students (e.g., video, instant messaging). AliCe-ViLlagE collects statistics about each team members contributions, allowing for evaluation of the effectiveness of the collaborative environment, and supporting teacher’s assessment of the team work. The paper describes the first formal evaluation of the AliCe-ViLlagE platform with a group of undergraduate students. The results show impressive results in terms of number of interactions between the students, enabled by the AliCe-ViLlagE framework, levels of satisfaction of the students, and completion time.