Procrastination vs. Active Delay: How Students Prepare to Code in Introductory Programming

When students procrastinate on programming assignments, it can hinder the quality of their code and negatively impact their grades. In contrast, when students actively delay working on assignments to prepare to code (e.g., reading or seeking help), it can be an effective self-regulated learning (SRL) strategy beneficial to programming performance. However, distinguishing active delay from pro-crastination is methodologically challenging. To address this, we tracked what students did when they behaviorally delayed starting an assignment. Most students prepared to code by using multiple course resources across programming assignments. We found that many students delayed starting to code by seeking help in the Q&A platform, and this was beneficial to the quality of their code. Also, some pre-coding activities were related to behavioral delay in starting to code, but benefitted students’ grades, and thus may indicate active delay, but not all pre-coding activities were beneficial. By considering pre-coding activities, we gain a comprehensive view of students’ approach to coding in CS education.