On Teaching Programming Languages Using a Wiki

This paper reports on an ongoing experiment with using a wiki as support material for CMU-CS 15-212, a sophomore-level course on advanced programming concepts and skills. We found that the use of a wiki promotes participatory learning and encourages the students to read upcoming material before class. Future developments include pairing up the wiki with an e-tutor and supporting delivery to small-screen devices such as PDAs and smartphones. A wiki is also a natural medium for a repository for essential programming language concepts and material for teaching such concepts.