Guidelines for Implementing Pair Programming in Introductory CS Courses: Experience Report

Pair programming has been shown to be an effective method of improving the learning outcomes of students in introductory computer science courses. However, much of the existing literature related to pair programming does not focus how to effectively implement pair programming. Researchers studying multiple aspects of pair programming have conducted several empirical studies at our university over the past two years. During this time, researchers received valuable feedback from course instructors about the effects of implementing pair programming in their introductory computer science courses. These instructors also expressed concerns about the use of pair programming in their courses. These include being able to ensure equal participation from pair members and not being able to assess individual learning outcomes effectively. This paper reports these concerns and uses empirical evidence from the pair programming studies to provide guidelines for the effective use of pair programming in beginning programming courses. Based on the experiences at our university along with those experiences of other researchers, we provide recommendations for course design when using pair programming.