CodeTailor: LLM-Powered Personalized Parsons Puzzles for Engaging Support While Learning Programming
Xinying Hou, Zihan Wu, Xu Wang, Barbara J. Ericson

TL;DR
CodeTailor is a system that uses large language models to create personalized Parsons puzzles, helping students engage more actively and reflectively in learning programming, while addressing challenges of AI-generated code misuse.
Contribution
This paper introduces CodeTailor, a novel LLM-powered system that generates personalized Parsons puzzles to enhance engagement and learning in programming education.
Findings
Participants found CodeTailor more engaging than just receiving code solutions.
CodeTailor improved students' application of scaffolded elements in posttests.
Students reported increased reflection and confidence using CodeTailor.
Abstract
Learning to program can be challenging, and providing high-quality and timely support at scale is hard. Generative AI and its products, like ChatGPT, can create a solution for most intro-level programming problems. However, students might use these tools to just generate code for them, resulting in reduced engagement and limited learning. In this paper, we present CodeTailor, a system that leverages a large language model (LLM) to provide personalized help to students while still encouraging cognitive engagement. CodeTailor provides a personalized Parsons puzzle to support struggling students. In a Parsons puzzle, students place mixed-up code blocks in the correct order to solve a problem. A technical evaluation with previous incorrect student code snippets demonstrated that CodeTailor could deliver high-quality (correct, personalized, and concise) Parsons puzzles based on their…
Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
Taxonomy
TopicsOnline Learning and Analytics · Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare and Education · E-Learning and Knowledge Management
