Title :
App-directed learning: An exploratory study
Author :
Sillito, Jonathan ; Begel, Andrew
Author_Institution :
Univ. of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
Abstract :
Learning a new platform is a common, yet difficult task for software developers today. A range of resources, both official resources (i.e., those provided by the platform owner) and those provided by the wider developer community are available to help developers. To increase our understanding of the learning process and the resources developers use, we conducted an interview and diary study in which ten developers told us about their experience learning to develop Windows Phone applications. We report on a preliminary analysis of our data viewed through the lens of self-directed learning. Using this lens, we characterize the learning strategies of our subjects as app-directed, and describe some of the particular challenges our subjects faced due to this strategy.
Keywords :
learning (artificial intelligence); software engineering; Windows phone applications; app-directed learning; official resources; platform owner; resources developers; self-directed learning; software developers; Blogs; Communities; Context; Documentation; Encoding; Interviews; Software;
Conference_Titel :
Cooperative and Human Aspects of Software Engineering (CHASE), 2013 6th International Workshop on
Conference_Location :
San Francisco, CA
DOI :
10.1109/CHASE.2013.6614736