Some aspects of grading Java code submissions in MOOCs

Recently, massive open online courses (MOOCs) have been offering a new online approach in the field of distance learning and online education. A typical MOOC course consists of video lectures, reading material and easily accessible tests for students. For a computer programming course, it is important to provide interactive, dynamic, online coding exercises and more complex programming assignments for learners. It is expedient for the students to receive prompt feedback on their coding submissions. Although MOOC automated programme evaluation subsystem is capable of assessing source programme files that are in learning management systems, in MOOC systems there is a grader that is responsible for evaluating students’ assignments with the result that course staff would be required to assess thousands of programmes submitted by the participants of the course without the benefit of an automatic grader. This paper presents a new concept for grading programming submissions of students and improved techniques based on the Java unit testing framework that enables automatic grading of code chunks. Some examples are also given such as the creation of unique exercises by dynamically generating the parameters of the assignment in a MOOC programming course combined with the kind of coding style recognition to teach coding standards

Evaluation of a tool for Java structural specification checking

Although a number of tools for evaluating Java code functionality and style exist, little work has been done in a distance learning context on automated marking of Java programs with respect to structural specifications. Such automated checks support human markers in assessing students’ work and evaluating their own marking; online automated marking; students checking code before submitting it for marking; and question setters evaluating the completeness of questions set. This project developed and evaluated a prototype tool that performs an automated check of a Java program’s correctness with respect to a structural specification. Questionnaires and interviews were used to gather feedback on the usefulness of the tool as a marking aid to humans, and on its potential usefulness to students for self-assessment when working on their assignments. Markers were asked to compare the usefulness of structural specification testing as compared to other kinds of support, including syntax error assistance, style checking and functionality testing. Initial results suggest that most markers using the structural specification checking tool found it to be useful, and some reported that it increased their accuracy in marking. Reasons for not using the tool included lack of time and the simplicity of the assignment it was trialled on. Some reservations were expressed about reliance on tools for assessment, both for markers and for students. The need for advice on incorporating tools in marking workflow is suggested

Automated Feedback for 'Fill in the Gap' Programming Exercises

Timely feedback is a vital component in the learning process. It is especially important for beginner students in Information Technology since many have not yet formed an effective internal model of a computer that they can use to construct viable knowledge. Research has shown that learning efficiency is increased if immediate feedback is provided for students. Automatic analysis of student programs has the potential to provide immediate feedback for students and to assist teaching staff in the marking process. This paper describes a “fill in the gap” programming analysis framework which tests students’ solutions and gives feedback on their correctness, detects logic errors and provides hints on how to fix these errors. Currently, the framework is being used with the Environment for Learning to Programming (ELP) system at Queensland University of Technology (QUT); however, the framework can be integrated into any existing online learning environment or programming Integrated Development Environment (IDE

An Experience-Driven Pedagogy for the Instruction of Software Testing in Computer Science

In the realm of computer programming, the experience of writing a program is used to reinforce concepts and evaluate ability. This research uses three case studies to evaluate the introduction of testing through Kolb\u27s Experiential Learning Model (ELM). We then analyze the impact of those testing experiences to determine methods for improving future courses. The first testing experience that students encounter are unit test reports in their early courses. This course demonstrates that automating and improving feedback can provide more ELM iterations. The JUnit Generation (JUG) tool also provided a positive experience for the instructor by reducing the overall workload. Later, undergraduate and graduate students have the opportunity to work together in a multi-role Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) course. The interactions use usability analysis techniques with graduate students as usability experts and undergraduate students as design engineers. Students get experience testing the user experience of their product prototypes using methods varying from heuristic analysis to user testing. From this course, we learned the importance of the instructors role in the ELM. As more roles were added to the HCI course, a desire arose to provide more complete, quality assured software. This inspired the addition of unit testing experiences to the course. However, we learned that significant preparations must be made to apply the ELM when students are resistant. The research presented through these courses was driven by the recognition of a need for testing in a Computer Science curriculum. Our understanding of the ELM suggests the need for student experience when being introduced to testing concepts. We learned that experiential learning, when appropriately implemented, can provide benefits to the Computer Science classroom. When examined together, these course-based research projects provided insight into building strong testing practices into a curriculum

Computer Aided Design and Grading for an Electronic Functional Programming Exam

Electronic exams (e-exams) have the potential to substantially reduce the effort required for conducting an exam through automation. Yet, care must be taken to sacrifice neither task complexity nor constructive alignment nor grading fairness in favor of automation. To advance automation in the design and fair grading of (functional programming) e-exams, we introduce the following: A novel algorithm to check Proof Puzzles based on finding correct sequences of proof lines that improves fairness compared to an existing, edit distance based algorithm; an open-source static analysis tool to check source code for task relevant features by traversing the abstract syntax tree; a higher-level language and open-source tool to specify regular expressions that makes creating complex regular expressions less error-prone. Our findings are embedded in a complete experience report on transforming a paper exam to an e-exam. We evaluated the resulting e-exam by analyzing the degree of automation in the grading process, asking students for their opinion, and critically reviewing our own experiences. Almost all tasks can be graded automatically at least in part (correct solutions can almost always be detected as such), the students agree that an e-exam is a fitting examination format for the course but are split on how well they can express their thoughts compared to a paper exam, and examiners enjoy a more time-efficient grading process while the point distribution in the exam results was almost exactly the same compared to a paper exam.Comment: In Proceedings TFPIE 2023, arXiv:2308.0611

First Year Computer Science Projects at Coventry University:Activity-led integrative team projects with continuous assessment.

We describe the group projects undertaken by first year undergraduate Computer Science students at Coventry University. These are integrative course projects: designed to bring together the topics from the various modules students take, to apply them as a coherent whole. They follow an activity-led approach, with students given a loose brief and a lot of freedom in how to develop their project. We outline the new regulations at Coventry University which eases the use of such integrative projects. We then describe our continuous assessment approach: where students earn a weekly mark by demonstrating progress to a teacher as an open presentation to the class. It involves a degree of self and peer assessment and allows for an assessment of group work that is both fair, and seen to be fair. It builds attendance, self-study / continuous engagement habits, public speaking / presentation skills, and rewards group members for making meaningful individual contributions.Comment: 4 pages. Accepted for presentation at CEP2

nExaminer: A Semi-automated Assignment Assessment Framework for Moodle.

In this paper, we present the nExaminer framework for semi-automated assignment assessment in an open source virtual learning system, namely, Moodle. The motivation for developing the framework is established on the observation of a major problem associated with traditional assignment assessment in Moodle - managing an effective relationship between the instructor and the students is difficult. Thus, the design and implementation of the nExaminer framework is discussed, along with the advantages it provides to both students and instructors. Experimental results with the nExaminer framework have been encouraging. It shows that the framework provides instructors with the ability to semi-automatically generate subjective feedback and automate the process of objective assessment within Moodle in an efficient manner. Moreover, the results also manifest that students are motivated by the usage of automated objective assessment in the nExaminer framework