Automated Assessment in Programming Courses: A Case Study during the COVID-19 Era

Enrique Barra, Sonsoles López-Pernas, Álvaro Alonso, Juan Fernando Sánchez-Rada, Aldo Gordillo and Juan Quemada
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Enrique Barra: Departamento de Ingeniería de Sistemas Telemáticos, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Sonsoles López-Pernas: Departamento de Ingeniería de Sistemas Telemáticos, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Álvaro Alonso: Departamento de Ingeniería de Sistemas Telemáticos, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Juan Fernando Sánchez-Rada: Departamento de Ingeniería de Sistemas Telemáticos, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Aldo Gordillo: Departamento de Sistemas Informáticos, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Sistemas Informáticos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28031 Madrid, Spain
Juan Quemada: Departamento de Ingeniería de Sistemas Telemáticos, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 18, 1-24

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic imposed in many countries, in the short term, the interruption of face-to-face teaching activities and, in the medium term, the existence of a ‘new normal’, in which teaching methods should be able to switch from face-to-face to remote overnight. However, this flexibility can pose a great difficulty, especially in the assessment of practical courses with a high student–teacher ratio, in which the assessment tools or methods used in face-to-face learning are not ready to be adopted within a fully online environment. This article presents a case study describing the transformation of the assessment method of a programming course in higher education to a fully online format during the COVID-19 pandemic, by means of an automated student-centered assessment tool. To evaluate the new assessment method, we studied students’ interactions with the tool, as well as students’ perceptions, which were measured with two different surveys: one for the programming assignments and one for the final exam. The results show that the students’ perceptions of the assessment tool were highly positive: if using the tool had been optional, the majority of them would have chosen to use it without a doubt, and they would like other courses to involve a tool like the one presented in this article. A discussion about the use of this tool in subsequent years in the same and related courses is also presented, analyzing the sustainability of this new assessment method.

Keywords: assessment; assessment process; assessment tools; e-learning; assessment techniques; automated assessment; online education; computer science education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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