Exploring Possibilities of Integrating Version Control Platforms in Higher Education Through GitHub Data Analysis

Abstract

Working in the software development industry in the modern world cannot be imagined without integration with version control platforms. In addition to allowing copies of the code to be kept, the code versioning platforms provide the ability to control changes that occur in the code itself, so it can be determined which member of the development team made the change and when. This article aims to determine the possibilities of using code versioning platforms in an educational context to provide insights into the students' collaboration and dynamics of developing a software solution. Data was collected on the GitHub platform using the API of a public GitHub organization. Social coding activities performed on the GitHub platform were analyzed using the concepts of Social Network Analysis (SNA). The results of the analysis indicate that the teachers can use data generated on the code versioning platforms o better understand the learning process and monitor the dynamics of project work. In this way, it is possible to follow how each team member contributes to the solution, understand the individual student activities, and monitor the state of the entire project.