Kim, A. S., & Ko, A. J. (2017). A pedagogical analysis of online coding tutorials. Journal of Computer Science Education, 8(3), 134-145. https://doi.org/10.1145/3017680.3017728
Summary
This is a research paper published in 2017 at the University of Washington. It is an analysis and comparison of the pedagogical effectiveness, based off learning sciences, of 30 popular and diverse online coding tutorials. Evaluations were based on nine groups of 24 dimensions. The groups spanned four core pedagogical principles: 1) connecting to learners’ prior knowledge, 2) organizing declarative knowledge, 3) practice and feedback, and 4) encouraging metacognitive learning. The research concluded that most online coding tutorials do not achieve many key principles in learning sciences, with educational games being the most effective.
Conclusion
Our results suggest that most online coding tutorials are still immature and do not yet achieve many key principles in learning sciences. Future research and commercial development needs to better emphasize personalized support and precise, contextualized feedback and explore ways of explaining to learners why and when to use particular coding concepts. Based on our sampled tutorials, we recommend that teachers be very selective in their use of materials, focusing on the more evidence-based tutorials, particularly the educational games. All educational games in the list provide hierarchical structure, immediate feedback, and opportunities that learners actively write code and use subsequent knowledge for coding throughout the tutorial.
Check out the table on page 3 for a great framework / set of criteria to analyze the pedagogical effectiveness of online coding tutorials!