Pair Learning: With an Eye Toward Future Success

Pair programming is a practice in which two programmers work collaboratively at one computer on the same design, algorithm, or code. Prior research indicates that pair programmers produce higher quality code in essentially half the time taken by solo programmers. Pair programming is becoming increasingly popular in industry and in university curricula. An experiment was run at North Carolina State University over a period of one and a half years to assess the efficacy of pair programming as an alternative educational technique in an introductory programming course. We found that the retention rate of the students in the introductory programming courses is equal to or better than that of the students in the solo programming courses. Most students show a positive attitude towards collaborative programming, and students in paired classes continue to be successful in subsequent programming classes that require solo programming. Pair programming also leads to a reduced workload for the course staff in terms of grading, questions answered and teaching effort.