Jeliot 3

Pedagogic Research back to Publications

• The Jeliot 2000 program animation system.
  R. Ben-Bassat Levy, M. Ben-Ari, P.A. Uronen. in Computers & Education 40(1), 2003, 1-15.
  Jeliot 2000 is a program animation system intended for teaching introductory computer science to high school students. A program animation system is a system that displays a dynamic graphical representation of the execution of a program. The goal is to help novices understand basic concepts of algorithms and programming like assignment, I/O and control flow, whose dynamic aspects are not easily grasped just by looking at the static representation of an algorithm in a programming language. The paper describes the design and implementation of Jeliot 2000 and an experiment in its use in a year-long course. The experiment showed that animation provides a vocabulary and a concrete model that can improve the learning of students who would otherwise have difficulty with abstract computer-science concepts.
• We work so hard and they don’t use it: Acceptance of software tools by teachers.
  R. Ben-Bassat Levy, M. Ben-Ari in Twelfth SIGCSE Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education. Dundee, UK, 2007, 246–250.
  Animation systems-software tools that can show a dynamic view of the execution of a program-were designed to help novices improve their understanding and to help teachers facilitate learning. Preliminary studies on the effectiveness of animation systems on the understanding of students have shown encouraging results. Nevertheless, the use of animation system is not very widespread. This paper presents the results of a phenomenographic study designed to describe the different ways that teachers experience the use of an animation system as a pedagogical tool. The results suggest that increased acceptance of such tools by teachers depends on integrating the tools with other learning materials and on addressing the role of the teacher in the use of software by the students.
• Affective effects of program visualization.
  G. Ebel, M. Ben-Ari in Second International Computing Education Research Workshop. Canterbury, UK, 2006, 1–5.
  Developers of program visualization (PV) systems generally claim positive affective effects of PV usage such as increased motivation. This work attempts to characterize and measure these effects. The methodology is based on video analysis of classroom activity for behavior patterns that are associated with uncooperative attitude and attention loss. These patterns are correlated with the different learning and teaching activities that occur. The results show a near-total reduction in "bad" behavior while using PV, supporting the positive affective effects claimed for PV.
• Jeliot 3 in a Demanding Educational Setting.
  Moreno, A. and Joy, M. S. in Electron. Notes Theor. Comput. Sci. 178 (Jul. 2007), 51-59.
  We report the preliminary findings of a qualitative investigation into how students approach a program visualization tool, and whether the approach depends on how they are taught to use the tool. Volunteer students in an undergraduate programming course were divided into two groups. One group was taught programming concepts explicitly using the tool, and required to use it to solve weekly exercises and projects, whereas the other group only used the tool on a voluntary basis. We identify those aspects of using the tool which the students find beneficial, and discuss the limitations of the animations provided by Jeliot 3.
• A visualization tool as a demonstration aid:
  Matti Lattu, Veijo Meisalo, Jorma Tarhio (2003) Computers & Education 41(2), 133–148.
  As algorithms have been seen to be hard to teach and learn, teachers have tried to look for help in algorithm animation. While the effect of algorithm animation on learning has been studied, but not reliably evidenced, this study tries to approach the problem from a different perspective. Sixty hours of assignment sessions in an introductory programming course were observed to determine the kind of demonstration and explaining strategies teachers and students tend to use. The results show that although the variation of different visualisation types is large, there are certain common properties describing the explanation of the programs. Guidelines for demonstration tools are presented based on the results.
• How a Visualization Tool Can Be Used - Evaluating a Tool in a Research & Development Project:
  Matti Lattu, Jorma Tarhio, Veijo Meisalo (2000), 12th Workshop of the Psychology of Programming Interest Group, 19–32.
  This paper outlines a part of a larger qualitative evaluation study where Jeliot, a tool designed to aid students in understanding algorithms, was used in a real classroom situation by two different groups. According to the findings, the tool could be used in an introductory programming course and students found visualization helpful. However, the making SV automatic is not a straightforward task, as the tool should be able to understand the relations of the variables. Based on the findings we suggest some further development areas for Jeliot.