Learning to code is becoming a popular subject for students and professionals of all ages, partly for its career prospects, but also as a critical literacy for understanding how computing is shaping society. Yet, educators generally agree that computer programming is difficult to teach and assess. This research aims to address difficulties in assessing computer programming by investigating critical characteristics of programming tasks using both response process and product data. The study capitalizes on the ability of logging the coding process to obtain, sort, analyze, and summarize vast amounts of fine-grained information that can be captured by observing program edits. We aim to study the relations between process and task characteristics in programming, identifying patterns that are indicative of proficiencies, suggest fluency, or signal certain kinds of coding difficulties. Such identification will, in turn, allow for designing instructional, learning, or assessment materials that are targeted at specific needs of learners.
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