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Teaching Formal Languages with Visualizations and Auto-Graded Exercises

Publication ,  Conference
Mohammed, M; Shaffer, CA; Rodger, SH
Published in: SIGCSE 2021 - Proceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education
March 3, 2021

The material taught in a Formal Languages and Automata (FLA) course is mathematical in nature and requires students to practice proofs and algorithms to understand the content. Traditional FLA textbooks are heavy on prose, and homework typically consists of solving many paper exercises. Instructors often make use of Finite State Machine simulators like the JFLAP package. JFLAP allows students to interactively build models and apply different algorithms to these models, providing both a more interactive and a more visual approach. However, course materials have still traditionally relied largely on prose and hand-graded exercises, limiting both the interaction and the amount of practice. In this paper, we propose an eTextbook with integrated tools (simulators and auto-graded exercises) that allow for greater interactivity and levels of engagement. To evaluate the pedagogical effectiveness of our approach, we conducted performance evaluations across different offerings of an FLA course. Results indicate that students using the integrated eTextbook performed better than did a control group using a traditional textbook approach. Students gave positive feedback regarding the usefulness of the auto-graded exercises for practicing different FLA concepts.

Duke Scholars

Published In

SIGCSE 2021 - Proceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

ISBN

9781450380621

Publication Date

March 3, 2021

Start / End Page

569 / 575
 

Citation

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Mohammed, M., Shaffer, C. A., & Rodger, S. H. (2021). Teaching Formal Languages with Visualizations and Auto-Graded Exercises. In SIGCSE 2021 - Proceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (pp. 569–575).
Mohammed, M., C. A. Shaffer, and S. H. Rodger. “Teaching Formal Languages with Visualizations and Auto-Graded Exercises.” In SIGCSE 2021 - Proceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, 569–75, 2021.
Mohammed M, Shaffer CA, Rodger SH. Teaching Formal Languages with Visualizations and Auto-Graded Exercises. In: SIGCSE 2021 - Proceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education. 2021. p. 569–75.
Mohammed, M., et al. “Teaching Formal Languages with Visualizations and Auto-Graded Exercises.” SIGCSE 2021 - Proceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, 2021, pp. 569–75.
Mohammed M, Shaffer CA, Rodger SH. Teaching Formal Languages with Visualizations and Auto-Graded Exercises. SIGCSE 2021 - Proceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education. 2021. p. 569–575.

Published In

SIGCSE 2021 - Proceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

ISBN

9781450380621

Publication Date

March 3, 2021

Start / End Page

569 / 575