Atelier Hands-On Training

This hands-on workshop explores the tool Atelier that was developed to support feedback in programming tutorials. Our teaching philosophy for programming is based on a tinkering approach, that is characterised by playful exploration, driven by curiosity. Students define from the start their own assignments, given only a set of ingredients to use. The role of a teacher is to provide starting points, explain the first steps to take, and to get students unstuck when necessary. This approach puts students in a very active position but is also very feedback intensive.To support giving feedback and to reduce inconsistencies in feedback given by teaching assistants (TAs), we developed a tool, Atelier, that allows to give comments on code and share this with the respective student, and also with TAs and teachers.The hands-on activity will start with an introduction, followed by an online tutorial lecture with some simple programming assignments. Participants will take the role of students as well as TAs and use Atelier to give and receive feedback. After two rounds of programming exercises, we will evaluate the tool with the participants and discuss its use and place in programming education.