An Experience with and Reflections on Live Coding with Active Learning

Abstract

In this paper I report and reflect on a concrete experience with changing an introductory programming course from being based on "classical lectures" to being based on live coding with active learning. The experiment is built on learnings found in the literature and the pedagogical theories of scaffolding, think-pair-share and teaching as facilitation of learning. I reflect on the students\u27 reaction to the experiment, the difficulty of the active learning, how to keep time, coverage of learning objectives, the degree of improvisation and student involvement. The experiment was well received by the students, and I report also on the feedback. My hope is that educators who want to introduce live coding with active learning will be able to draw inspiration from my preparation of, execution of and reflections on the experiment