Towards generic and flexible web services for e-assessment

ABSTRACT

In computer science education, lectures are typically accompanied by exercise courses and/or lab practices are essential for the learning effect since they provide opportunities for students to apply their theoretical knowledge to practical problems. The automatic testing and assessment of assignments in a Web-based environment offers students more learning possibilities (e.g., time and location-independent) with immediate feedback and helps teachers to reduce their workload so they can concentrate on issues regarding content and didactics. In this paper we present a generic, flexible, and reusable Web-based system architecture and its implementation for automatic testing of programming assignments and assignments in other formal systems. We also describe our practical experience gathered with this approach in computer science courses at two different universities.

REFERENCES

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION
      K.3.1 Computer Uses in Education
          Subjects: Computer-assisted instruction (CAI)

Additional Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION
      K.3.2 Computer and Information Science Education
          Subjects: Computer science education

General Terms:
Design, Human Factors, Management, Measurement, Performance

Keywords:
computer-assisted assessment, cs1/2, e-assessment, e-learning, web services, web-based systems