An often used method to grade code assignments is first to test the code for correctness or functionality. To check if the code operates as intended in this situation, you would need to run it with different inputs.
This is a great way to start, however, doing this for more than 100 submitted assignments will eventually feel like an unbearable chore even if you had the good intention of giving individual feedback to students.
In this article, we’ll share tips on how to grade code assignments quickly yet efficiently and avoid generic comments like “good job” or “needs improvement. Rather provide specific examples and actionable steps to help students understand and address identified issues even if you have more than a hundred students.
3 Effective Ways to Grade Code Assignments
Rather than making output strict for easy grading or resorting to making the problems easy so you can grade quickly without stress, there are a few methods to adapt and tools to use that help with grading code assignments of any difficulty or knowledge level.
Rubrics to grade code assignments
This is a popular way to grade code assignments but not everyone gets it right. Setting a rubric begins with having clear expectations before giving the assignment. Ask yourself questions like, what do I expect at the end of this assignment? What specifics do I want to look out for? After determining these, add them to the rubrics and allocate points for each.
You may want to look out for things like functionality, correctness, readability and assign points for each of these.
Rubrics for grading code assignments
Rubrics for grading code assignments
Other questions to help your Rubric include:
Does the code have the right output?
Did the student apply the principles taught?
Online software to grade code assignments
Online software that grade code assignments ensure that the sheer volume of submissions doesn’t consume your evenings and weekends. Software like SimplifiedIQ ensures efficient code grading. Provides detailed feedback with code comments, annotations, and even video recordings for a more interactive learning experience. Ensures academic integrity with built-in plagiarism detection tools. And organizes/manages student submissions efficiently within a centralized platform.
Presentation and Peer Review
Having your students present their code projects as a way to grade their code assignments boosts their confidence and promotes learning among peers. You will find this method of grading code assessments beneficial for the following reasons:
- Presentations become a means of knowledge exchange among students of various experience and skill levels.
- Students discover their weaknesses and improve through feedback and knowledge shared by peers. This ensures you do not give generic feedback to your students.
- Presentations can expose areas where multiple students struggle with similar concepts. This allows instructors to address these issues more effectively in future lessons or provide targeted support to struggling students.
- By listening to students explain their thought process and code structure, instructors can gain a deeper understanding of how well students grasped the concepts.
Conclusion
It doesn’t have to be a hassle to grade code assignments. We have listed 3 methods that computer science teachers and instructors have agreed work for them and give them the best feedback, whether you are looking to save time yet be thorough, or need to offer effective feedback that can help improve student performance.
