Pair Programming: Leveling the Field for Students with Learning Disabilities

Authors

Silvana Watson, Old Dominion UniversityFollow
Ling Li, Old Dominion UniversityFollow
Li Da Xu, Old Dominion UniversityFollow
Wu He, Old Dominion UniversityFollow
Shana Pribesh, Old Dominion UniversityFollow
Debra Major, Old Dominion UniversityFollow
Elizabeth Langran (Ed.)
Leanna Archambault (Ed.)

Document Type

Conference Paper

Publication Date

2021

Publication Title

Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference

Pages

388-390

Conference Name

ociety for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference, March 29-April 2, Online

Abstract

This paper is the report on the findings of a three-year study conducted in undergraduate computer science courses. It also describes the changes made to deal with COVID-19 during the summer and fall of 2020. We collected data on over 800 students with approximately 35 students identified as having learning disabilities (LD). These students were not professional programmers in a computer science department; rather, they were students from a Business College. Our preliminary results show that pair programming improved (a) teamwork and communication between the pairs; (b) confidence in students; and (c) comprehension and learning for all students. Thus, our preliminary results indicate that pair programming improved everyone’s performance. Educators should consider the importance of collaboration with other disciplines when creating inclusive environments for students with disabilities.

Comments

© 2021 by AACE. Reprinted with permission of AACE (http://www.aace.org).

ORCID

0000-0001-9663-4355 (Watson), 0000-0001-9157-3493 (Pribesh), 0000-0003-0304-1740 (Major)

Original Publication Citation

Watson, S., Li, L., Xu, L., He, W., Pribesh, S., & Major, D. (2021) Pair programming: Leveling the field for students with learning disabilities.In E. Langran & L. Archambault (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 388-390). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education. https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/219159/

Repository Citation

Watson, Silvana; Li, Ling; Xu, Li Da; He, Wu; Pribesh, Shana; Major, Debra; Langran, Elizabeth (Ed.); and Archambault, Leanna (Ed.), "Pair Programming: Leveling the Field for Students with Learning Disabilities" (2021). Communication Disorders & Special Education Faculty Publications. 74.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/cdse_pubs/74