Comparing the Experiences of Live Coding versus Static Code Examples for Students and Instructors

Introductory programming courses can be taught in a variety of ways, including live coding, where instructors write code in real-time in front of students, or static code examples, where pre-prepared code is explained to students. While previous studies have compared live coding and static coding and their impacts on student assessment and cognitive load in large lecture environments, we present our experiences in a single lab session, highlighting student engagement differences. After presenting the same material to groups of students through a live-coding presentation and a static code presentation, we reflect on the observable differences in student engagement through an established framework of cognitive engagement. Additionally, we compare pre-surveys, post-tests, and cognitive load surveys from both groups. While our findings did not result in significant differences in student assessments, our experience highlighted differences between live and static code presentations. Live coding presentations can often take up to twice as long as static code presentations. Students may tend to ask more questions in live coding presentations, suggesting live coding provides instructors and students with more opportunities for further discussion. Live coding may also provide the instructor with additional opportunities to discuss other concepts that may not have been included in a pre-prepared presentation.