Tina Majchrzak

A series of cgi-scripts, written in C and Perl, were developed to automate the submission and grading of C programs via Internet forms. These scripts would also be well suited for handling student essays.

One series of scripts verifies student access to the site by requesting a password, supplies students with a form for pasting in their source code, saves their work on a server, and e-mails them confirmation that their work has been received.

Password

Source

Confirm

Another series allows teachers and student aids to access submissions, compile and run source code using any compiler, grade work by checking off missing elements on a rubric (also supplied to the students), and e-mail assignment grades immediately.  Course officials have convenient access to all student submissions during the entire semester. They need only log onto the site, supply a password, select their name from the list, select the desired assignment, and click the button.  Then they are given a list of student submissions, some of which may already have been graded. To (re)grade an assignment, they need simply click the appropriate button next to the student’s name.

Login

Grade

After selecting an assignment to grade, the grader is supplied with two windows. In one, only the student’s code appears, so that it can be easily copied and pasted to a compiler of the grader’s choosing.  The student’s code also appears in a textbox in the other window with “:->” symbols in front of each line, so that the grader can easily insert annotations like “Put header comment here.” The grader can also check off any rubrics that are missing and then click “Accept all Selected Rubrics”. This transfers the appropriate messages and point deductions to the “Additional Comments” textbox. It also adds all of the deductions and automatically subtracts them from 100. Before clicking the accept button, the grader may change the wording of the message and/or points deducted. It is also possible to include additonal comments in the comment window before clicking the “Record Grade & E-mail Student” button.

Code

Rubric

The students receive their grades via e-mail with detailed messages about missed rubrics.

Feedback

This automated system makes grading, and regrading when necessary, more efficient, with all graders having immediate, simultaneous access to all work. Using a set, predetermined rubric also helps keep grading consistent. In addition, graders need not write as much, since clicking a given rubric automatically includes a description of the error and the accompanying point deduction along with the grade that is e-mailed to the student. Finally, timestamps on student submissions make it easy to keep track of when assignments were submitted and to add bonus points to early work as well as deduct penalty points from late work automatically.