Workshop: Visual programming as a bridge to textual programming: managing an integrated Web course with automatic assessment

The comprehension of algorithms is becoming essential and programming, not rarely, has being introduced since elementary school. Nevertheless, the acquisition of programming skills is not an easy task. This fact is corroborated by the literature that report alarming failure and dropout rates in CS0 (Introduction to Computer Science) courses. On the other hand, forecasts about the demand for software developers indicate exponential growth over the next decade.In this context, reducing the cognitive workload for learners is desirable. For instance, the integration of a web-based environment with some visual programming tool and automatic assessment could benefit learners.The adoption of a unique environment where the students could learn how to solve problems using algorithms and receive immediate feedback may reduce the slope of the learning curve. Moreover, the possibility of using the same tool to communicate with their teachers and colleagues can positively affect their learning.Also, the visual programming paradigm can reduce the need for memorization of a programming language syntax. It allows learners to focus their attention on solving the problem algorithmically.There are several tools that provide automated assessment evaluation. Some of these can be used with Web browsers, but very few of them can be integrated with a Learning Management System (LMS). In this workshop, we will discuss two of these systems that are distributed as free software: the Virtual Programming Laboratory (VPL) and the iVProgH/iAssign solutions. They can all be integrated with the Moodle platform.Since VPL demands an extra installation of the jail server (to run students solutions) and works with traditional programming languages, the focus will be over iVProgH/iAssign. The iVProgH/iAssign solution implements the Visual Programming Paradigm. iVProgH is implemented in HTML, CSS and JavaScript, sparing the use of a security environment to separated compilation, as VPL demands.