Chatbot Script Design for Programming Language Learning

Chatbots have been used to teach programming languages for novice students of introductory courses. Code Tutor helps students learn JAVA online with coding suggestions and error corrections. ProgBot provides three language modules including C++, JAVA, and Python, and adaptively selects quizzes according to students’ progress. Python-Bot assists students with programming concepts and predefined questions. If necessary, it makes an appointment with teaching assistants or teachers for a face-to-face consultation. A chatbot with a Facebook Messenger interface using the IBM Watson service was also used for non-technical students of the Multimedia Design Department at Chihlee University of Technology in Taiwan. According to our survey after the test, the feature that students need most is to help them learn programming logic. To facilitate the completion of the chatbot, the scripts are redesigned based on the supportive information requirements of the four-component instructional design (4C/ID). A framework is also developed for the scripts of a chatbot for novice students. Hopefully, the results is helpful for others who wish to build their chatbots to teach students programming languages.