Reducing Entry Barriers for Online Programming Exercises Theia in an Education Environment
0Presented by Matthias Linhuber virtually at TheiaCon 2024.
The growing complexity of advanced courses in software engineering often creates frustrating entry barriers for students unfamiliar with IDEs and programming in general. To address this, we utilize Theia within the online exercise platform Artemis to provide a cloud-based environment that simplifies setup and supports tailored learning experiences. Our approach includes tailored variants of the Theia IDE and a dedicated Artemis plugin that delivers real-time instructions and feedback, allowing students to concentrate on core competencies. By leveraging Theia Cloud's scalable integration in Kubernetes, we provide a secure environment with precise resource allocation, enabling efficient terminal access and controlled execution for students.
In this talk, we showcase the integration of Theia and Theia Cloud within Artemis, demonstrating how it creates a scalable, secure, and highly customized learning environment for software engineering education. We will discuss the technical challenges encountered, the solutions implemented, and the significant improvements in accessibility and user experience for both students and educators.