TrackThinkDashboard: Understanding Student Self-Regulated Learning in Programming Study

Abstract: In programming education, fostering self-regulated learning (SRL) skills is essential for both students and teachers. This paper introduces TrackThinkDashboard, an application designed to visualize the learning workflow by integrating web browsing and programming logs into one unified view. The system aims to (1) help students monitor and reflect on their problem-solving processes, identify knowledge gaps, and cultivate effective SRL strategies; and (2) enable teachers to identify at-risk learners more effectively and provide targeted, data-driven guidance. We conducted a study with 33 participants (32 male, 1 female) from Japanese universities, including individuals with and without prior programming experience, to explore differences in web browsing and coding patterns. The dashboards revealed multiple learning approaches, such as trial-and-error and trial-and-search methods, and highlighted how domain knowledge influenced the overall activity flow. We discuss how this visualization tool can be used continuously or in one-off experiments, consider associated privacy implications, and explore opportunities for expanding data sources to gain richer behavioral insights.