This project would be most suitable for a Year 4 student.
What are the most common syntax errors encountered by students working on a programming assignment? How long does it take on average to correct each type of error? What is the distribution of the total time spent by students on an assignment? What programming language features are being used by students for an assignment? How many students are using each feature?
The answers to questions like the ones above could provide lecturers with valuable information about the progress and experience of students in a class. This project will develop a prototype Visual Studio Code extension for collecting data points and a web dashboard for presenting aggregated data to lecturers. Privacy will be an important design consideration. The design will be influenced by a review of literature on the application of learning analytics in introductory programming courses.
The context for the project can be any programming language that might be used in introductory programming courses (e.g. Python, Java, C, ARM Assembly Language). Visual Studio Code Extensions are written in JavaScript or TypeScript and familiarity with one or both of these would be beneficial but not required. Otherwise, a student undertaking this project would be free to choose the languages and tools they deem most appropriate.