Interpersonal process recall: a novel approach to illuminating students’ software development processes

ABSTRACT

Background and Context: Encouraging undergraduate programming students to think more about their software development processes is challenging. Most programming courses focus on coding skill development and mastering programming language features; subsequently software development processes (e.g. planning, code commenting, and error debugging) are undervalued. Moreover, many of these processes involve tacit thinking that is often seemingly invisible, meaning it can be difficult for teachers to identify and address shortcomings in student processes.

Objective: In this paper, we employ a novel approach called Interpersonal Process Recall (IPR) to encourage students to think more about their software development processes.

Method: We conducted IPR sessions with five undergraduate programming students—we screen captured them working on programming assignments, and then used the screen captures to stimulate reflection. IPR is hallmarked by several key features, namely its developmental (rather than evaluative) focus, and the use of a facilitator to guide reflection in a structured way.

Findings: We found IPR was useful for both the teaching staff and the students, revealing incongruence between the value students placed on certain development processes and what they actually do in practice.

Implications: IPR is a novel approach for shining a light on student software development processes. We hope this paper encourages other practitioners to consider adding IPR to their toolbox of approaches for encouraging students to reflect on their software development processes.

KEYWORDS:

• Interpersonal process recall
• reflection
• programming students
• software development processes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Adon Christian Michael Moskal

Adon Christian Michael Moskal is a lecturer in Information Technology at Otago Polytechnic in Dunedin, New Zealand. His research is centred on improving teaching and learning, with a particular focus on practical applications of research for teachers “at the chalkface”. His research interests include learning analytics, educational technology and student evaluation.

Twitter: @AdonMoskal

Rob Wass

Rob Wass, a lecturer in higher education, works on project-based research with staff and students. His research interests are focused around improving student experiences of learning, particularly through examining assessment practices and supporting sessional teachers using video and interpersonal stimulated recall. Previously published research is in the areas of scaffolding for critical thinking, assessment, and academic writing. He is attracted to research questions that require different methodologies and approaches. However, his research is primarily qualitative and situated within sociocultural and interpretive paradigms.