How students learn to program: observations of practical tasks completed

Students on a distance education course in introductory object-oriented programming engage in a number of practical computer-based activities. Each activity consists of a significant number of small tasks packaged together into sessions. This paper analyses students' attempts at the tasks in terms of the number of tasks attempted and the time taken to complete them. The observed student behaviour is then compared with the behaviour recommended by the course designers. The results reveal both expected and unexpected behaviours and provide some useful feedback on the design of practical activities. The amount of data collected is too large for manual analysis, making an automatic analysis tool essential. Therefore, the paper also describes the tool and shows how it has been used to identify student behaviours.