Design and Development of Interactive Software Models for Teaching Coding Theory: A Case Study on Hamming Codes—General Algorithm

• Published in: Applied sciences Vol. 15; no. 8; p. 4231
• Main Authors: Aliev, Yuksel, Ivanova, Galina, Borodzhieva, Adriana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.04.2025
• Subjects: Academic achievement; Adaptation; Algorithms; ANCOVA; Automation; Case studies; Codes; Coding theory; Communication channels; Data transmission; Education; Educational materials; Educational objectives; Educational software; Efficiency; Error correction & detection; Gamification; Hamming codes; Interactive learning; Learning strategies; learning tool; Libraries; Methods; Problem solving; Python; Simulation; software model; Students; Teaching
• ISSN: 2076-3417; 2076-3417
• DOI: 10.3390/app15084231

This paper presents the design and development of interactive software models for teaching coding theory, aiming to enhance students’ comprehension through an intuitive and hands-on approach. A general methodology for designing interactive educational software is proposed and has been successfully applied in developing four software models for learning various coding techniques. These software models are suitable for both online and face-to-face classroom environments. As a case study, the paper details the implementation of an interactive software model for solving Hamming code–general approach problems, outlining its design, development, implementation, and evaluation. A pedagogical experiment was conducted to evaluate student performance using the ANCOVA statistical method. Additionally, an analysis of the completed tasks was performed to assess student progress using the interactive software tool. A survey was also administered to gather students’ feedback on their experience with the model. The findings suggest that the proposed methodology has strong potential to enhance student engagement and performance in coding theory education, making it applicable to various teaching settings and other coding techniques beyond Hamming codes, and it can be adapted for use in other scientific disciplines and teaching contexts.