An Intelligent-Agent Facilitated Scaffold For Fostering Reflection In A Team-Based Project Course

This paper reports on work adapting an industry standard team practice referred to as Mob Programming into a paradigm called Online Mob Programming (OMP) for the purpose of encouraging teams to reflect on concepts and share work in the midst of their project experience. We present a study situated within a series of three course projects in a large online course on Cloud Computing. In a 3 x 3 Latin Square design, we compare students working alone and in two OMP configurations (with and without transactivity-maximization team formation designed to enhance reflection). The analysis reveals the extent to which grading on the produced software rewards teams where highly skilled individuals dominate the work. Further, compliance with the OMP paradigm is associated with greater evidence of group reflection on concepts and greater shared practice of programming.