Combining State of the Art Software Engineering and E-Assessment

Usener Claus A., Majchrzak Tim A., Kuchen Herbert

Abstract

Assessments are an integral part of teaching and learning. To overcome the high manual effort for teaching personnel, e-assessment systems are used. We propose an extension of EASy, a system for e-assessment in computer science and mathematics sciences education. It offers assessment of exercises that require higher-order cognitive skills. Our extension allows assessing programming exercises in conjunction with state of the art software development, in particular test-driven-development and back-to-back testing. It integrates a tool for automated test case generation. Test cases are pro-vided for students that upload their solution of programming exercises. They can use them to improve their solution and gain knowledge on software testing at the same time. Besides introducing our extension of EASy and distinguishing it from related work, we present an exemplary scenario. To prove the effectiveness of our approach, we discuss findings from a survey. It was conducted with almost 200 students from a programming lecture. The study provided us both with quantitative results and qualitative feedback. Most students reflected positively on using EASy. Our general approach is feasible. However, several details require further investigation.