Automated assessment and experiences of teaching programming

Abstract

This article reports on the design, implementation, and usage of the CourseMarker (formerly known as CourseMaster) courseware Computer Based Assessment (CBA) system at the University of Nottingham. Students use CourseMarker to solve (programming) exercises and to submit their solutions. CourseMarker returns immediate results and feedback to the students. Educators author a variety of exercises that benefit the students while offering practical benefits. To date, both educators and students have been hampered by CBA software that has been constructed to assess text-based or multiple-choice answers only. Although there exist a few CBA systems with some capability to automatically assess programming coursework, none assess Java programs and none are as flexible, architecture-neutral, robust, or secure as the CourseMarker CBA system.