Interactive Performance Assessment in Computer Science: The Advanced Placement Computer Science (APCS) Practice System
Randy Elliot Bennett, J. R. Jefferson Wadkins · Journal of Educational Computing Research · 1995
The Advanced Placement Computer Science (APCS) Practice System is an instructional assessment device meant to give students practice in, and feedback on, elementary programming tasks. The system includes a programming editor, item pool, two feedback facilities, and electronic portfolio tools. Students write Pascal procedures using the editor, test them with system-generated data, and, for selected problems, can call for a nonsyntactic analysis that produces a partial-credit score and a diagnostic commentary. Results of solution testing and nonsyntactic analysis are recorded by the portfolio tools. This article describes the system's background, instructional model, feedback facilities, and potential uses.