Automated assessment systems can be useful for both students and instructors. Ranking and immediate feedback can have a strongly positive effect on student learning. This paper presents an experience using automatic assessment in a programming tools course. The proposal aims at extending the traditional use of an online judging system with a…

This paper presents the successful integration of the evaluation engine of Mooshak into the open source learning management system Claroline. Mooshak is an open source online automatic judge that has been used for international and national programming competitions. although it was originally designed for programming competitions, Mooshak has also…

This paper presents a new laboratory-based module for embedded systems teaching, which addresses the current lack of consideration for the link between hardware development, software implementation, course content and student evaluation in a laboratory environment. The course introduces second year undergraduate students to the interface between…

This work describes a new "Moodle" module developed to give support to the practical content of a basic computer organization course. This module goes beyond the mere hosting of resources and assignments. It makes use of an automatic checking and verification engine that works on the VHDL designs submitted by the students. The module automatically…

Purpose: The content, provided in learning management systems (LMS), is often text oriented as in a usual textbook, extended by some animations and links. Hands on activities and experiments are not possible. The paper aims to give an overview about the concept to couple smart simulation and assessment tools with an LMS to provide a more…

This article investigated the impact of using e-learning models' with the principles of constructivism to enhance the critical thinking skills of students in higher education institutions. The study examines the effectiveness of e-learning model in enhancing critical thinking of students at university level. This effectiveness is measured by a…

Over the past several decades, a wider range of assessment strategies has gained prominence in classrooms, including complex assessment items such as individual or group projects, student journals and other creative writing tasks, graphic/artistic representations of knowledge, clinical interviews, student presentations and performances, peer- and…

As an instructional aid for beginning computer science courses, two systems are described which permit the automatic diagnosing and grading of student prepared problems. The first system, called SIM 610, is based on a simulator which performs by actually running student programs prepared for a simple tutorial computer used in the classroom. The…

Discussion of collaborative learning focuses on the MUCH (Many Using and Creating Hypermedia) System, developed at the University of Liverpool (England) for designing and implementing collaborative learning systems. Examples of applications of the MUCH System for nursing education and for computer science education are described, including the use…

This study was undertaken to examine the status of computer-based instruction in Vancouver secondary schools which is categorized as computer-science courses or traditional courses which use the computer merely as a problem-solving and learning aid. Then schools participated in an examination of the computer-science courses. This aspect of the…

Reports on a study that compares the performance of students enrolled in two sections of a Web-based computer networking course: one utilizing a simulation package and the second utilizing a static, graphical software package. Analysis shows statistically significant improvements in performance in the simulation group compared to the…

One of the critical components in the curriculum is evaluation of students' knowledge or the amount they learned in the course. Over time, the assessment process has not changed significantly; it is only recently that university instructors are turning to technology for assistance in this labor-intensive task. There are disadvantages and…

Syntactically correct code does not fall from the sky; the process that leads to a student's first executable program is not well understood. At the University of Kent we have begun to explore the "compilation behaviours" of novice programmers, or the behaviours that students exhibit while authoring code; in our initial study, we have…

Providing detailed, constructive and helpful feedback is an important contribution to effective student learning. Quality assurance is also required to ensure consistency across all students and reduce error rates. However, with increasing workloads and student numbers these goals are becoming more difficult to achieve. An automated feedback…

Describes the development of a statistical experiment to assess and compare the effects of traditional lecture and laboratory technology methods of teaching introductory computer programming concepts. Discusses the use of performance measures including tests, quizzes, homework, and projects to assess students' learning, retention, and success…