Information technology student's changing perceptions of assessment strategies during pair programming

Abstract

The aim of the research was to determine to what extent students' perceptions of assessment (peer, self, facilitator and individual) in pair programming situations changed from the beginning to the end of a programming module. In order to achieve this aim, both quantitative and qualitative research methods were used. During the quantitative phase of the research, data was collected by means of a structured questionnaire and analysed statistically. In order to interpret the quantitative findings, qualitative data was collected by means of open-ended items on a questionnaire as well as through interviews. The sample consisted of 20 second year, pre-service student teachers who were majoring in Information Technology at a South African University. Eleven female and nine male students participated, aged 20 to 21 years. The study indicated that students' perceptions of assessment strategies during pair programming situations changed when a variety of strategies were implemented. Before the implementation of pair programming, students indicated that pair assessment methods were not as reliable as individual assessment methods. After having been exposed to different assessment strategies during pair programming, most of the students were in agreement that pair assessment methods could be as reliable as individual assessment methods.