Automatic feedback systems for code: what can they tell the busy instructor?
Bruce W. Char · Journal of computing sciences in colleges · 2016
CodeLab, an automatic exercise and coding practice system was introduced into a university's CS1-style introductory programming course across several terms. CodeLab question bank items, and instructor-authored exercises and programming assignments were used, complementing conventional face-to-face class lectures, labs, and quizzes. Grading data from CodeLab describes for each problem and student how many attempts were needed before correct completion. Analysis indicates students persevered with the exercises, with many doing more problems than they received grade credit for. Observations were also obtained on problem suitability and relationships between exercise effort and course grades. Such findings show how autograder data can be used to facilitate awareness and improvement efforts within the time-resource envelope of typical instruction.