The JavaFest: A Collaborative Learning Technique for Java Programming Courses

Learning to create well-designed and robust Java programs requires, besides a good understanding of the language, a significant amount of practice. In this paper, the authors present the JavaFest, a collaborative learning technique for teaching Java to beginning programmers. A JavaFest is a group exercise that instructors can add to their repertoire of teaching techniques. It provides an opportunity for students to practice programming in a motivating but non-threatening environment, and to learn from the experience of their peers.