BEST PRACTICES IN MY DEPARTMENT

1. Title of the practice: Encourage students to improve Coding skills through online platforms such
as Codechef and Hackerrank
Codechef and hackerrank as CODING CLINIC.

2. (The context that required the initiation of the practice) As the computer science and
information technology department we keep motivating our students to develop projects that based on
latest and cutting edge technologies. The major proportion of our projects are softwares or software
based. Because of this the need to have complete knowledge and practice of programming on
different platforms become crucial. So in order to fulfill this need we keep motivating and training our
students on programming skills using some key platforms like Hackerrank, codechef, etc. Now this
has become regular practices and we found ourself successful in this implementation.

3. Objectives of the practice (3-4 bullet points):

i. Improvement of programming skills over multiple platform.
ii. Building logical thinking.
iii. Increasing the effectiveness of lab sessions.

4. The Practice (250 – 300 words):

HackerRank is a technology platform that focuses on competitive programming challenges for
students, where students compete by trying to program according to provided
specifications. HackerRank's programming challenges can be solved in a variety of programming
languages including Java, C++, PHP, Python, SQL, JavaScript and span multiple computer science
domains.
On the student side, when a programmer submits a solution to a programming challenge, their
submission is scored on the accuracy of their output. Programmers are then ranked globally on the
HackerRank leaderboard and earn badges based on their accomplishments to drive competition
among users. In addition to individual programming challenges, we also hosts contests (often referred
to by HackerRank as "CodeSprints") where users compete on the same programming challenges
during a set period of time and are then ranked at the conclusion of the event.
Similary, codechef also provide such platform where the challenges are framed at different levels. In
Monthly programming contests available on codechef, hosts three programming contests, in which
users can participate and compete for prizes and a standing on the contest leaderboard. We are also
trying to organize ‘The Long Challenge’, which is a ten day long contest featuring 8 questions of
varying difficulty. The Long Challenge commences on the first Saturday of each month. The
Lunchtime is a contest that was primarily started for school students to hone their programming skills.
This 3-hour contest takes place on the last Saturday of every month featuring a set of 4 questions. The
third contest is the Cook-Off which takes place on the second-last Sunday of every month and
consists of 5 questions to be solved over a 3 hour duration. Our students have also participated in 24
hours hackwith PSIT contest and related contest on similar platforms.
5. Obstacles faced if any and strategies adopted to overcome them (150 – 200 words):
i. Students don’t grasp things as quickly as we have hoped: Usually all students think
themselves as quick learners but reality is different. So we asked students to Keep their
expectations realistic and let’s avoid the bad feeling of underachieving.
 ii. Students don’t ask for help and sit isolated: Ambition and self-image often stand in the way of
our development. We don’t let it happen to our students. During a coding competition (or any
other intense training program for that matter) asking for help is a crucial element of moving
forward. It doesn’t mean that student should get the teachers to solve all of coding challenges.
Do your parts, focus, try to split the problem into smaller, more approachable chunks?
Student must try to at least know what they don’t know before asking for assistance. But they
should not wait too long. They’re still a beginner and it’s natural that you get stuck.

6. Impact of the practice:

The found improvement over following:
i. Application of problem.
ii. Evaluation and analysis of problem.
iii. Reasoning of students.
iv. Spatial, social and psychomotor skills.
v. Occupational and research skills.
vi. Increase in the total figure of placements in various companies.

7. Resources required:
i. Completely equipped computer lab with sufficient speed of internet connection in order to
support real time server response.
ii. Latest browser.

8. About the Department:

i. Name of the Department: CSE and IT ii. Name HoD :Mr. Pradeep Rai

iii. Address: PSIT COE , Bhauti, Kanpur, U.P iv. Sanction Intake :120(CS) & IT(60)

v. E-Mail: cs@psitcoe.ac.in vi. Website : psitcoe.ac.in