The Grader: A grading assistant for lab tests and a teaching tool

• Main Authors: M. THULASIDAS, LO, David
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2024
• Subjects: automatic grading; grading assistant; lab tests; programming courses; web application development; Computer Sciences; Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research; Higher Education
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sis_research/9164; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sis_research/article/10167/viewcontent/2024058932.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

This article presents the design and implementation of the Grader, a grading assistant application deployed for a Web Application Development course at our school. The Grader is equipped to handle various logistical aspects of lab tests, including file management, consistent application of rubrics, and auto-grading of questions with test cases. Additionally, it incorporates heuristic rules to detect cheating attempts. We anticipate that the Grader will find widespread utility in programming courses where lab tests serve as summative assessments. Developed within the same programming environment taught in the class, the Grader also serves as a pedagogical tool, demonstrating to students a substantial project that utilizes the techniques learned in the classroom. This article describes the features of the Grader, the context of the course where it is deployed, and our experience and insights in using it. In particular, we will present the comments from the students gathered from their qualitative feedback on the course and the instructor as the utility of the Grader in enhancing their learning experience. We will also present the estimates of the time saved by the instructors in evaluating lab tests. From the data collected, we conclude that the Grader can serve as a pedagogical too to motivate our students. Further, the Grader can significantly reduce the demand on the instructors time in grading lab tests. In terms of detecting plagiarism, its performance is not fully established.