CS Fundamentals Pair Programming Distance Learning

Since moving to distance learning due to COVID-19, I’ve been helping my students as their navigator while chatting live with individuals in Google Classroom private comments. This works, but it’s not ideal. With 24 classes in Courses B-F, it’s impossible to schedule Google Meets for partners. Does anyone have any ideas for how to continue fostering the pair programming model via distance learning?

1 Like

i just found this. i was hoping to find ideas for pair programming during covid19. have you found ideas

If breakout rooms are available, pair students up. Instruct one student to share their screen and have students alternate describing the code out loud. The student who has shared the screen then types in the code.

This is not true pair programming, as students are not fully trading off on the roles of driver and navigator, but will allow for some collaborative coding.

2 Likes

Is there a way for paired students in Code.org to see the other pair’s progress? I’m thinking I could still do the driver/navigator structure while students are on their own devices if they can see their partner’s progress. (For context, my situation is 100% in-person learning, but no shared devices or physical collaboration).

1 Like

Not in real time. If two students sign in as partners on two devices they won’t see their partner’s work until 1) after the partner presses run and 2) the student refreshes the screen. Doing this, they’ll still only see their own work, but will also see a link like the screenshot below if their partner has completed the puzzle:

Clicking the link takes the student to a separate page with their partner’s work, but outside of the lesson (no instructions or bubbles at the top). Changes made here are not saved:

Unfortunately, the pair programming feature on Code.org was explicitly designed for shared devices. I think it may be more trouble than it’s worth to be totally honest. If I were in your shoes, I would recommend pairing students less formally as “buddies” that go through the lesson together at the same pace. They could be expected to talk through their work and answer each other’s questions, but would both ultimately need to write the code themselves. The only way to see another student’s code on your own screen (in real time) is by setting up screen sharing in some way on their device.
Hope this helps!

1 Like

how do i get acess to that