Automated Grading System

University of Maryland
Institute for Advanced Computer Studies Department of Computer Science

College Park
UMIACS-TR-94-59 CS-TR-3275

KASSANDRA: THE AUTOMATIC GRADING SYSTEM
Urs von Matty January, 1994

Abstract. An automatic grading system is presented for grading assignments in scienti c computing. A student can interactively use this system to check the correctness of his program assignments. The grade for a correct solution is automatically recorded. This paper also considers the security problems with such an automatic grading system. Key words. Computerized grading, science education, computer aided instruction.

This report is available by anonymous ftp from cs.umd.edu in the directory /pub/papers/TRs. It also appears in SIGCUE Outlook, 22 (1994), pp. 26{40. y Institute for Scienti c Computing, ETH Zurich, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland; current address: Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742; e-mail: [e-mail].

KASSANDRA: THE AUTOMATIC GRADING SYSTEM
Urs von Matt

Abstract. An automatic grading system is presented for grading assignments in scienti c computing. A student can interactively use this system to check the correctness of his program assignments. The grade for a correct solution is automatically recorded. This paper also considers the security problems with such an automatic grading system. Key words. Computerized grading, science education, computer aided instruction.

1. Introduction. At ETH Zurich an undergraduate course in scienti c computing is lectured by W. Gander every year. About six teaching assistants have to handle up to 200 students. The grading of assignments represents a major activity for the teaching assistants. Kassandra was designed to alleviate this problem. Kassandra is based on the observation that numerical assignments can be tested fairly easily. Typically the student has to implement a procedure which operates on given input data and generates some output.

References: 1] S. Barton, LEARN and SIFLEARN, University of Agriculture and Forestry, Brno, Czech Republic, 1991. 2] B. Char, K. Geddes, G. Gonnet, B. Leong, M. Monagan and S. Watt, Maple V Language Reference Manual, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1991. 3] G. E. Forsythe and N. Wirth, Automatic Grading Programs, Comm. ACM, 8 (1965), pp. 275{278. Kassandra: The Automatic Grading System 15 Fig. 4. Oberon-Kassandra 4] P. Lira, M. Bronfman and J. Eyzaguirre, MULTITEST II: a program for the generation, correction, and analysis of multiple choice tests, IEEE Transactions on Education, 33 (1990), pp. 320{325. 5] C. Moler et al., MATLAB User 's Guide, The MathWorks Inc., South Natick, 1990. 6] R. Myers, Computerized Grading of Freshman Chemistry Laboratory Experiments, Journal of Chemical Education, 63 (1986), pp. 507{509. 7] J. Piotrowski, The small computer assisted lecturing system, SIGCSE Bull., 20 (1988), pp. 8{ 12. 8] R. Posteraro, D. Blackwell and A. Huddleston, Techscore: A program for tabulating the results of multiple choice questions and correcting multiple choice examinations, Comput. Biol. Med., 16 (1986), pp. 259{265. 9] M. Reiser, The Oberon System, User Guide and Programmer 's Manual, ACM Press, New York, 1991. 10] R. M. Rottmann and H. T. Hudson, Computer Grading As an Instructional Tool, Journal of College Science Teaching, 12 (1983), pp. 152{156. 11] E. Schreihofer, J. Foster, B. Gleason, H. Harting and S. Hiltz, Software tools for a virtual classroom, in Proc. of NECC '88, ed. W. Ryan, Int. Council Comput. Educ., Eugene, 1988, pp. 230{236. 12] J. Taylor and D. Deever, Constructed-Response, Computer-Graded Homework, American Journal of Physics, 44 (1976), pp. 598{599. 13] N. Wirth, Programming in Modula-2, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1985. 14] N. Wirth and J. Gutknecht, The Oberon System, Software|Practice and Experience, 19 (1989), pp. 857{893.