2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

From Typing to Insights: An Interactive Code Visualization and Error Detection for Enhanced Student Support Using Keystroke Data

Presented at Computers in Education Division (COED) Track 3.D

The continuous rising of digital learning platforms have unarguably brought about a surge in the amount of data obtained from different learning environments, which presents a great opportunity for computer science teachers to gain an understanding of students’ coding processes. This is vital for enhancing student support as teachers can gain insights into students’ thought process, strategies and identify areas where students might be struggling while tacking programming tasks. Traditional assessment methods such as feedback after homework submissions or completed lab assignments often results in late and untimely intervention that would prevent early dropouts and massive failures as the students’ learning journey is neglected in the process.
We leverage students’ keystroke data obtained from Python and Java-based introductory programming courses delivered through CODIO learning platform, to design an interactive code visualization and error detection platform using Streamlit. The application features an interface that reproduces students’ code snippets with JavaScript enabled syntax highlighting. It includes a combination of dropdown menu and an adjustable slider which enables an instructor to navigate through the timestamps and have a detailed view of students’ coding processes. The application also includes a navigation to an environment that enables instructors to run the generated code snippets for error detection, giving the instructors clear idea of the difficult part(s) of the course for intervention purposes. The intervention ultimately fosters a more supportive learning environment and helps boost students’ confidence.

Authors
  1. Friday Emmanuel James Kansas State University [biography]
  2. Joshua Levi Weese Kansas State University [biography]
  3. Dr. Michelle Friend University of Nebraska - Omaha [biography]
  4. Dr. David S. Allen Kansas State University [biography]
Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025