ProgrammingLand: An automated system for computer science education

ProgrammingLand is a computer-based system for strengthening instruction in Computer Science. It employs client-server technology based upon MOO software. It may be used as a stand-alone basis for online distance education or as a supplement for a classroom course in the early programming classes. It is structured in the paradigm of a museum with exhibits connected by paths. The system contains content material similar to a textbook. However, each exhibit contains a small amount of material that the students may browse in many different orders of their choice. ProgrammingLand records the visited exhibits and provides a variety of interactive objects that enhance the learning experience.; The structure of the MOO is based upon the notion of a lesson. A lesson may have prerequisites, optional and required reading, required sub-lessons within it, exercises to perform and a concluding assignment. The students are informed of these requirements when they enter the lesson for the first time and may see them at any later time. The completion of certain lessons may prompt an agent to visit the student and give an assignment that requires the completion of a program or some other activity.; A course may be flexibly superimposed upon the lesson structure of ProgrammingLand. An instructor may select which lessons are to be used and in what order without interfering with any other instructor's use of the same system. The course system also allows the students to determine their progress through the course, including what lessons they have completed, which agents are attached to lessons and what would be an appropriate next activity.; This system has been used as an online distance education mechanism for a small number of students. It also has been used as a textbook substitute in several introductory programming classes. An experiment was conducted which compared the results of one of these classes with comparable classes from three other institutions that grant a Baccalaureate degree. This experiment indicates that substitution of ProgrammingLand for a textbook had no deleterious effect on the students, while offering a number of advantages not available to either text-based or web-based methods.