Concept Note

on
Design and Implementation of Virtual
Programming Lab: with Special Emphasis on
Collaborative Learning
Submitted By
Gaurav Parashar
Integrated Academy of Management and Technology,
Ghaziabad
11 June,2012
Version:0.1
1
Contents
1 Area of intended work 3
1.1 Topic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 Broad Area of Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2 Literature Reviewed 3
3 Outline of proposed work 3
4 Details of the previous work 5
Bibliography 6
2
1 Area of intended work
Collaborative learning[HLA05], Virtual Programming Labs[dP11], Human
Computer Interaction
1.1 Topic
Design and Implementation of Virtual Programming Lab: with Special Em-
phasis on Collaborative Learning.
1.2 Broad Area of Work
Computer Science & Engineering
2 Literature Reviewed
VPL has a moodle module which has been integrated with VPL to make
programming an integrated part of learning management system[RJM
+
08].
Granville[GH05] et.al. developed a collaborative editor for programming
classes, which had a basis of making programming a collaborative task rather
than a uni task for a student. DeClue[DeC03] also emphasized on pair pro-
gramming which is also a collborative method of programming. User cen-
tric approach has also been discussed by Brooks[BPG06].Visual approach
of learning, which makes learning an informative and easy has been also
discussed by Marcarell[Mas11]. Wang[WP12] discussed about using cloud
computing as a method to develop virtual programming lab. To have much
deeper integration of the technology researcher has an opinion that we can in-
tegrate an automated intelligent tutor[Gra12], which can help solve students
common problems by giving answers to his common mistakes.
3 Outline of proposed work
Proposed study would include the analysis of dierent commercial and open
source virtual programming labs[dP11].
The study would also include design, development and testing of the said
Virtual programming lab on the basis of the study done during the research
period.
3
The lab will be a mix of the following computer science areas:-
1. Collaborative thinking and learning.
2. Human Computer Interaction.
3. Learning Management System.
Proposed Virtual Programming lab will full following factors / objectives:-
Scalability : The lab must be scalable to support maximum number of users
simultaneously.
Objectivity :The lab module must full its respective objectives for which the
module has been designed.
Robustness : The lab must correct its issues or problems with the help of
teacher, administrator or auto correct modules.
Security : The lab must full remedy of mostly all the respective security
issues for an online system.
Language : Environment support as modules: The lab must have the sup-
porting environment of the following languages/Engines:-
(a) C Language
(b) C++ Language
(c) Python
(d) SQL
(e) PHP
(f) Java
(g) GNU Octave [ For graphics ]
(h) Google Apps Engine
(i) GNU Tutor
(j) Mono
NMEICT Project : This lab will have integration of NMEICT virtual labs simula-
tions, if permitted by respective authorities.
Open Source Model : The lab will be delivered after completion as an open source
software for getting support from the educationists around the
world and to be used and customized as per individuals needs.
4
Moodle Support : Since moodle has deep presence in learning management system,
so researcher will also try to achieve the integration of the said
product as a module in moodle.
4 Details of the previous work
Following are the details of the work done by dierent universities around
the globe:-
Athabasca University 1. Name: Virtual Programming Lab for Web-
based Distance Education
2. Abstract: With the development of Web technologies and explo-
sion of Web user population, Web-based distance education(WBDE)
has gained its great popularity over the last few years. Experiences
show that, however, computer programming courses are more dif-
cult than other courses for students to study through WBDE. A
primary investigation into the problem discovered that one of the
diculties in learning programming at a distance is caused by the
absence of instant guidance and help when Virtual Programming
Lab for Web-based Distance Education students have problems
in their computer programs, as that can be provided in a real
computer lab. This research is aimed to develop a virtual pro-
gramming lab, through which students will be able to program in
a specic programming language, and be able to get assistance and
help from tutors and their peers as instant as in a real computer
lab. If such a lab is implemented in our programming courses, es-
pecially the introductory ones such as our COMP266, COMP268
and COMP272, and pass rates of these courses can be improved.
Ministry of HRD and NMEICT 1. Name: Virtual Labs
2. Abstract:
(a) To provide remote-access to Labs in various disciplines of Sci-
ence and Engineering. These Virtual Labs would cater to
students at the undergraduate level, post graduate level as
well as to research scholars.
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(b) To enthuse students to conduct experiments by arousing their
curiosity. This would help them in learning basic and ad-
vanced concepts through remote experimentation.
(c) To provide a complete Learning Management System around
the Virtual Labs where the students can avail the various
tools for learning, including additional web-resources, video-
lectures, animated demonstrations and self evaluation.
(d) To share costly equipment and resources, which are otherwise
available to limited number of users due to constraints on time
and geographical distances.
References
[BPG06] Christopher Brooks, Rupi Panesar, and Jim Greer. Awareness
and collaboration in the ihelp courses content management sys-
tem. In Proceedings of the First European conference on Technol-
ogy Enhanced Learning: innovative Approaches for Learning and
Knowledge Sharing, EC-TEL06, pages 3444, Berlin, Heidelberg,
2006. Springer-Verlag.
[DeC03] Timothy H. DeClue. Pair programming and pair trading: eects
on learning and motivation in a cs2 course. J. Comput. Sci. Coll.,
18(5):4956, May 2003.
[dP11] Juan Carlos Rodriguez del Pino. Virtual programming lab. http:
//vpl.dis.ulpgc.es/index.php/en/documentation, Septem-
ber 2011. [Online; accessed 11-June-2012].
[GH05] Kenroy Granville and Timothy J. Hickey. The design, implemen-
tation, and application of the grewpedit tool. In Proceedings of
the 2005 conference on Diversity in computing, TAPIA 05, pages
1416, New York, NY, USA, 2005. ACM.
[Gra12] Art Graesser. Gnu tutor. http://gnututor.com/, June 2012.
[Online; accessed 11-June-2012].
[HLA05] Timothy J. Hickey, John Langton, and Richard Alterman. En-
hancing cs programming lab courses using collaborative editors.
J. Comput. Sci. Coll., 20(3):157167, February 2005.
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[Mas11] Jordi Bataller Mascarell. Visual help to learn programming. ACM
Inroads, 2(4):4248, December 2011.
[RJM
+
08] Guido R oling, Mike Joy, Andres Moreno, Atanas Radenski, Lauri
Malmi, Andreas Kerren, Thomas L. Naps, Rockford J. Ross,
Michael J. Clancy, Ari Korhonen, Rainer Oechsle, and J.

Angel
Velazquez-Iturbide. Enhancing learning management systems to
better support computer science education. SIGCSE Bulletin,
40(4):142166, 2008.
[WP12] Harris Wang and Dusty Philips. Implement Virtual Programming
Lab with Cloud Computing for Web-Based Distance Education.
IGI Global, 2012.
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