Java Assist Learning System for Assisted Learning on Facebook

2013 Learning and Teaching in Computing and Engineering

Java Assist Learning System for Assisted Learning on Facebook Chien-Hung Lai/1st

Wei-Ching Lin/2nd

Dept of information & Computer Engineering Chung Yuan Christian University Taoyuan, Taiwan [email protected]

Dept of information & Computer Engineering Chung Yuan Christian University Taoyuan, Taiwan [email protected]

Bin-Shyan Jong/3rd

Yen-Teh Hsia/4th

Dept of information & Computer Engineering Chung Yuan Christian University Taoyuan, Taiwan [email protected]

Dept of information & Computer Engineering Chung Yuan Christian University Taoyuan, Taiwan [email protected] discuss or answer questions [1] [2]. Therefore, using network platforms as a teaching strategy has been considered by many instructors. A good teaching platform not only enables the students to carry out distance learning on the teaching platform [3][4], including reading materials, sending messages, engaging in on-line discussion, and participating in group discussions [5]. The distance teaching platform provides various teaching materials for students to study [6], and the system can record the learning activities of students on the platform, allowing the students to seek for peer assistance on the platform[2] [7].

Abstract—When students encounter learning difficulties in learning process, they often ask peers to find answer instead of asking teacher. But sometimes peers’ ability is poor or ask question at wrong time, so they cannot get the answer immediately. And then they generate frustration of learning, thus lose their learning enthusiasm. In order to effectively improve the situation, to enable students can get answers in the shortest time. This study takes characteristics of the social network platform. The social network platform have advantage of notification and reminders, it allow students to get the answer immediately. Especially Facebook occupies the highest utilization rate in many social networking platforms. Facebook is very popular in recent years; it occupies a very high utilization rate of the Taiwan college students. Facebook boomed the research which been studying by many scholars. However, past studies mostly focused on the users use motivation of Facebook use application program of Facebook. There are been rarely explored about Facebook, especially in the educational aspects of application. Therefore this study use the function of Facebook as the tool, design a system about Java-Assisted Learning System (JALs) to help students learn programming. Because the system is built on Facebook, it let students can seek assistance immediately in the process of programming. The experimental results show that students not only give positive recognition for JALs, but also recognize the help about learning. And it can be seen, student who use JALs assisted learning system has the better learning achievements, it represents the JALs can enhance the effect of learning for students. Keywords—Facebook; Peer Tutor; online platform; assist learning.

I.

In a traditional online learning platform, students on log on when they need course information. On the other hand, the Facebook platform can obtain more user data, while the instant update function allows users to obtain the latest information promptly, and helps them to solve learning problems and improve learning achievements [8]. In addition, programmers may encounter problems during programming, and peer learning can help them better understand the programming concepts, thus reducing the burden on teachers [9]. As Facebook has permitted the third party to use the API provided by the platform to develop application programs since 2006, this study uses Facebook to provide a platform for students to engage in social networking, as well as learn about programming. The social networking function of Facebook can facilitate the peer collaborative learning effect. This study also uses questionnaire survey to understand the benefits of Facebook on assisted teaching. II. RELATED WORK

INTRODUCTION

A. Peer tutor For unknown learning concepts or difficult problems, the learners always feel puzzled and unassisted, and attempt to seek

In recent years, various on-line discussion platforms have been developed, from the bulletin board system (BBS) to the presently extensively used MSN. They are tools for peers to 978-0-7695-4960-6/13 $26.00 © 2013 IEEE DOI 10.1109/LaTiCE.2013.10

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through the API provided by Facebook. The JALs develops assistant tutoring application programs on Facebook.

for others' assistance. However, for teachers, to answer students' questions is also a burden. Thus, in order to reduce the load on teachers, peer tutoring has become a teaching strategy. Through peer tutoring, the load on teachers can be reduced, and the students can practice the concepts they have learnt through teaching others, thus contributing to learning effect [10]. Morey mentioned that in comparison to professional consultants, students are more willing to ask for peers' assistance, and the peer tutors can share resources, thus maximizing the effect of the tutoring program [11]. The peer tutoring strategy can be divided into the following three modes: 1.

Class wide peer tutoring [12]: two students form one group, but the teacher still needs to assist each group, which remains a burden on the teacher.

2.

Peer-assisted learning strategies[13][14][15]: based on the characteristic of heterogeneous grouping, the students with different characteristics in a group assist each other in learning, so as to improve the learning effect.

3.

Reciprocal peer tutoring [16]: the students share experiences with each other and complete tasks by acting as tutors and learners in turn. The scoring is different from the above two modes in which the peer tutor gives correction and score.

The learners can compose and practice Java programs in JALs, and the system provides automatic verification mechanism to compile and test the Java programming codes composed by students. In addition, when a student encounters problems during the practice, the ask-for-help mechanism can help the student find peer tutors on Facebook to answer the question. The system selects the "person who has answered the question correctly" as the priority from the peer tutors, because those who have answered the question correctly may understand the question and the key points better, and can provide opinions and directions to solve the problems. Secondly, the "person who has answered most questions correctly at present" is selected from peer tutors, because those who have answered most questions correctly may have better ability to solve the problems though they have not answered this question before. If the system fails to find an appropriate tutor, the ask-for-help message will be sent to the course assistant, who will acts as the peer tutor anonymously.

However, peer tutoring may not attain the goal of effective teaching as the peers may have insufficient knowledge in some areas. Van Rosmalen proposed a model which could select appropriate peer tutors and learners automatically, and hold a discussion on wiki [17]. However, this model is only effective in simulated learning situation, and it requires further validation in a real setting. Some studies have used MSN to provide chat robot or appropriate peers for students of different cognitive styles[18]. The research result showed that the field independent students with the assistance of chat robot and the field dependent students having discussed with appropriate peers could obtain better learning effect.

Figure 1. Architecture of JALs

IV. QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN In order to know the students' opinions on "Facebook assisted teaching" and "usability of JALs assisted programming system", this study designed questionnaires for survey. Table 1 shows the questionnaire content, Items 1 to 15 are based on a Likert 5-point scale, while item 4 is a reverse item for checking whether the students fill out the questionnaire carefully. Items 16 and 17 are essay questions for students to provide their opinions on this experiment. The questionnaires were distributed after the experiment. The obtained data were analyzed using the factor analysis of SSPS. After the factor analysis, if the expected classification was not obtained, the inappropriate items were revised or deleted, and the survey and factor analysis were carried out again.

B. Java learning and Assessment The teaching of programming is not an easy task. After teaching the concept and syntax of programming, the task of confirming the correctness of the programming codes composed by students is labor-consuming. Some studies have proposed the concept of automatic verification system[19], which allows the students to send the programming codes online, and verifies the correctness of the programming codes synchronously. This system can shorten the students' waiting time for the programming code verification, and reduce the labor consumption. III. JAVA ASSIST LEARNING SYSTEM This study uses "Facebook application program" to embed Java Assist Learning System (JALs) into Facebook, so that the students can use JALs for learning. Fig. 1 shows the system structure. The learners can engage in social networking, while using the application programs of Facebook. The application programs on Facebook are connected to the Social Channel

TABLE I. No. 1 2 3

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TEACHING QUESTIONNAIRE CONTENT

Item Facebook assisted Java learning system is helpful to my study in class I would like to use this system to enhance programming ability Using the system in Facebook conveniences me to carry out social

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

meaning that the analysis of two principal components can explain 75.575% of original data volume. The results are shown in Tables 3 and 4.

intercourse while learning programming Using the system in Facebook does not convenience me to carry out social intercourse while learning programming I would like to use this system as class assistant The ask-for-help mechanism of the system can find someone to answer my questions I can use this system to review my learning achievements The combination of Facebook and programming can raise learning motivation The system content helps me to learn the course concepts This evaluation mode enables me to grasp the course key effectively With the assistant training of the system in Facebook, my programming ability is enhanced I can use the system in Facebook to study smoothly Generally speaking, this system benefits me well Facebook + Java learning mode meets my needs I will recommend Facebook + Java learning mode to others What's your opinion on the Facebook+Java learning mode? What's your opinion on this system and its defects that shall be remedied?

TABLE III.

Element

This study uses Facebook platform to design JALs to assist in course teaching. The subjects were 55 students in the course of Java Programming at the Department of Information Management, Chung Yuan Christian University in the first semester of academic year 2011. The experimental period was one week after the midterm and before the final exam. The experimental process was that the tutor taught the basic concept of Java program in class, including "conditional criterion", "array", "loop and recursion", "function" and "class" concepts, for 3 hours per week. The students then practiced programming for 1 hour. The students used JALs to practice programming after class. After the experiment, the students were asked to fill out the questionnaires, so as to provide opinions on Facebook assisted teaching and JALs assisted programming system.

1 2

Degrees of freedom Significance

Sum of square loading Percentage of Variance 42.870 32.705

Sum 6.002 4.579

Cumulative Percentage 42.870 75.575

The varimax of orthogonal rotation is used to rotate factors, and the difference and structuredness of factor loadings are enlarged, so that various factors can be explained more easily. The factor analysis result shows that all items fall into this dimension, thus the questionnaire is valid. For 14 variables (items), the factor loading corresponding to each item is greater than 0.5, proving its good construct validity. After validity analysis, this study uses Cronbach's α to analyze reliability and internal consistency. The analysis result is shown in Table 5. Factor I "opinion on Facebook assisted teaching" Cronbach's α coefficient is 0.952, Factor II "usability of JALs assisted programming system" Cronbach's α coefficient is 0.881. The Cronbach's α coefficients of the two factors are higher than 0.700, proving the 14 items are homogeneous, meaning that the reliability of this scale is consistent. TABLE V.

TEST OF KMO AND BARTLETT

Chi-Square Distribution

Cumulative Percentage 66.944 75.575 81.429 86.030 89.541 92.201 94.390 95.822 97.027 98.141 98.951 99.470 99.815 100.000

SUM OF SQUARE LOADING OF EXPLAINED SUM OF SQUARES

Element

VI. QUESTIONNAIRE ANALYSIS

Bartlett test of sphericity

9.372 1.208 .820 .644 .492 .372 .306 .200 .169 .156 .113 .073 .048 .026

TABLE IV.

There were 55 students tested, and 27 questionnaires were retrieved. The data were analyzed with principal component analysis using SSPS software [20]. As Item 4 is a reverse item, this item was not used as the source data of factor analysis. The answers of the other 14 items were sampled for KMO fitness test and Bartlett sphericity test. According to Table 2, KMO value is 0.814, Bartlett sphericity test value is 347.492, and the significance is 0.000, meaning that the data can be used for factor analysis [21]. TABLE II.

Initial Eigenvalues Percentage of Variance 66.944 8.630 5.854 4.601 3.511 2.660 2.189 1.432 1.206 1.114 .810 .519 .345 .185

Sum

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

V. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy

INITIAL EIGENVALUES OF EXPLAINED SUM OF SQUARES

Cronbach's Alpha 0.952 0.881

.833 347.492 91 .000

RELIABILITY ANALSIS

The number of items 9 5

Factor First Factor Second Factor

VII. EXPERIMENTAL RESULT The questionnaire data are analyzed and discussed from different angles. In terms of "opinion on Facebook assisted teaching", the average point of Item 1 is 3.815, 21 respondents chose "agree" and "strongly agree", accounting for 80% of total, and 3 respondents chose "disagree" and "strongly disagree",

After statistical test, the principal component factor analysis method is used to extract common factors. As for the determination of number of factors, the eigenvalue greater than 1 is the extraction criterion, and two major elements can be obtained. The cumulative total variance explained is 75.575%,

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accounting for 12% of the total. As shown in Fig. 2, the students suggested that the JALs is helpful to class exercise.

main social networking platform, not everyone has a Facebook account. This will be the focus of future improvement.

Figure 2. The first question of the questionnaire answered

Figure 4. The third question of the questionnaire answered TABLE VII.

According to the students' feedback, as shown in Table 6, the students have positive opinion on Facebook assisted learning, and regard it as a fresh experience, and their acceptance of using JALs in Facebook is high. As shown in Fig. 3, 73% of the respondents are willing to use the system, and only 6% of them choose disagree, meaning that the JALs is very convenient for real-time Java programming. TABLE VI. ALIAS ST46 ST29

ST18 ST10

ALIAS ST39

ST15

STUDENT FEEDBACK

MSG Sometimes when I log in Facebook, I would like to compose a program to improve may programming ability. Although there may be a lot of frustrations, if the program is completed smoothly, that's really pleasing. This is a very good program, I can use it when I have questions, and it can be used for exercise, it is helpful to my java to some extent.

According to the result of the second aspect "usability of JALs assisted programming system", the ask-for-help mechanism of the system fails to completely meet the demand. Fig. 5 shows that the ask-for-help mechanism of the system still needs to be improved, and the system function of real-time assistance for students should be strengthened. According to Table 8, when the students face problems and need assistance, they always look forward to prompt response, and the ask-for-help mechanism of the system just enables the shy students to ask questions, and receive immediate answers.

STUDENT FEEDBACK

MSG Very good, very novel, we can actually study programming in our familiar FB I'm accustomed to use Facebook, and I can review the programs composed by myself now, it is novel and useful, really convenient, there is no need to download anything else, just connect it. What the teachers taught in class can be learned I don't want Facebook calling

Figure 3. The second question of the questionnaire answered Figure 5. The second question of the questionnaire answered

This study also surveys the opinion of students on programming with interactive reminding function. Fig. 4 and Table 7 show that most students agree with the statement that using JALs in Facebook platform can facilitate both social activities and programming learning (65%), while 12% disagreed. However, some students indicated that although Facebook is the

TABLE VIII. ALIAS ST33

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STUDENT FEEDBACK

MSG There is something I don't know how to write, and I don't know how to search for data though I have consulted somebody else, perhaps the program is too hard.

ST55 ST28 ST24

public, the Facebook has modified the Facebook privacy function setting many times during the experiment, so that the option "access message in your inbox" was an optional choice for the respondents. Only half of students were willing to open to the system administrator for research.

I'd better be taught by somebody else. Quicker answer is preferred. Very convenient, and easily handled, I won't feel embarrassed when I ask for assistance.

Regarding whether the students can use the system in Facebook to study smoothly, Fig. 6 shows that 50% of the respondents chose to agree, while 27% chose to disagree. It is because the JALs constructed Linux environment and the users' Windows environment use different codes. Although the downloaded program codes can be compiled by GUI software, the manual compilation mode taught in class will fail the compilation, thus affecting students’ opinions on the system usability. As shown in Table 9, the students think that the assistant learning system in Facebook is novel and convenient.

Figure 7. Authorization

Although the usability of JALs influences the students' willingness to use and the smoothness of use, as shown in Fig. 8, the students who have used JALs perform better than the students who have not used JALs in various aspects, such as program scores and test scores. This demonstrates that the JALs in Facebook is helpful to students' learning Java program. VIII. CONCLUSION In comparison to other community websites, Facebook becomes popular rapidly after the application program development based on API of Facebook website was opened to third party in 2006. In comparison to traditional PC games, the API developed community website games have little sound effect, but they only require a few developers and low cost, thus attracting many developers [22].

Figure 6. The second question of the questionnaire answered TABLE IX. ALIAS ST18 ST11 ST26

STUDENT FEEDBACK

Teachers sometimes have to change teaching strategies due to limited educational aids. The educational aids conforming to the teaching strategies can be designed by API provided by Facebook. Previous studies have suggested that the students often seek for peer assistance when they face problems in learning. The students can tutor and evaluate each other, and obtain a better understanding of the questions. In addition, the students discuss questions with peers and expound their own thoughts, exchange their opinions, and obtain a new common understanding from mutual judgment and discussion, so as to improve and enhance their learning[9][23]. Thus, this study designed a Facebook based teaching assistant system, JALs, which allows students to exchange online, and practice Java programming. The students can discuss with each other in peer tutor mode to assist in learning programming.

MSG Each time the downloaded program codes are unrecognizable codes, and I have to modify them online instead of in my notepad. Very convenient, questions can be raised at any time Cool, fresh, but a little hard to use.

The analysis of the questionnaires found that most of the respondents gave position feedback on using JALs for learning assistance. Although 27% of the respondents felt inconvenient in terms of system usability, it does not influence the positive opinion of students on the system assisted learning. The ask-forhelp mechanism of the system is helpful to the study of students, and can solve problems smoothly. Since some students are accustomed to use the instant messaging of Facebook or to raise questions on the Wall of Facebook Course Discussion Board, this part can be observed in the Course Wall and the session log of students and tutors during experiment.DŽ

The research results showed that most students found the assistant learning tool used in Facebook to be novel and well acceptable. Although the usability of JALs reduces its effect on assisting in learning, according to the performance of students in the experiment, those who have used JALs perform better than who have not used the system, especially in programming. The influence is significant, suggesting that the Facebook based educational aids JALs can assist students to learn Java programs.

In order to further analyze the questioning behavior of students in instant messaging, this study provides an option of "access message in your inbox" in the Facebook authorization, as shown in Fig. 7. As limited to personal privacy, this study guaranteed the responsibility for "information security" before experiment, but previous study (NK Malhotra et al., 2004) still found that the students are universally unwilling to reveal private information. Under the effect of rising privacy awareness of the

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As for the motives for using Facebook, besides the six motives proposed by Sheldon[24], the results of this study show that if API of Facebook is properly used to develop educational

aids meeting various instructional objectives, the students can use Facebook to discuss schoolwork with peers.

Figure 8. Comparison of performances of students (use JALs and no use JALs) [12] Greenwood, C. R., Delquardri, J. C., & Hall, V. (1989). Longitudinal effects of class wide peer tutoring. Journal of Educational Psychology, 81(3), 371-383. [13] Webb, N. M. (1997). Assessing students in small collaborative groups. Theory into Practice, 36 (4), 205-213. [14] Jehng, J.C. (1997). The Psycho-Social Processes and Cognitive Effects of Peer-Based Collaborative Interactions with Computers. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 17(1), 19-46 [15] Jong, B.S., Chen, C.M., Chan, T.Y., Hsia, Y.T., & Lin, T.W. (2012). Applying Learning Portfolios and Thinking Styles to Adaptive Remedial Learning. Computer Applications In Engineering Education, 20(1), 45-61. [16] Fantuzzo, J. W., Dimeff, L.A., & Fox, S.L. (1989).Reciprocal peer tutoring: A multimodal assessment of effectiveness with college students. Teaching of Psychology, 16(3), 133-135. [17] Van Rosmalen, P., Sloep, P., Kester, L., Brouns, F., De Croock, M., Pannekeet, K. (2008). A learner support model based on peer tutor selection. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 24(1), 74-86. [18] Hsieh, S.W. (2011). Effects of Cognitive Styles on an MSN Virtual Learning Companion System as an Adjunct to Classroom Instructions. Educational Technology & Society, 14 (2), 161-174. [19] Mike J., Nathan G., & Russell B.(2005). The boss online submission and assessment system. Journal on Educational Resources in Computing, 5(3),2. [20] Pearson, K. (1901). On lines and planes of closest fit to systems of points in space. Philosophical Magazine, 2, 559-572. [21] Henson, R. K. (2001). Understanding internal consistency reliability estimates: A conceptual primer on coefficient alpha. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 34, 177-189. [22] Shin, D., & Shin, Y. (2011). Why do people play social network games? Computers in Human Behavior, 27(2), 852-861. [23] Jong, B.S., Lai, C.H., Hsia, Y.T., & Lin, T.W. (2012). Effects of Anonymity in Group Discussion on Peer Interaction and Learning Achievement. IEEE Transaction on Education, in press. [24] Sheldon, P. (2008). The relationship between unwillingness-tocommunicate and students' facebook use. Journal of Media Psychology: Theories, Methods, and Applications, 20(2), 67.

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