We have been using a combination of conventional and on-line programming examinations for the past 3 years in our first year programming courses. We plan to continue using on-line components because of the positive feedback from both students and faculty. We describe the operational and pedagogical lessons we have learned, illustrating problems encountered and our solutions, in the hope that others considering on-line examinations may also benefit from our experiences.
For five academic years we have engaged in an on-going study of the effectiveness of online assessment of student programming abilities for introductory programming courses in Computer Science. Our results show that online evaluation can be implemented securely, efficiently, and can result in increased student motivation and programming efficacy; however, unless online components are integrated throughout the course evaluations, student competence will be underestimated. Our data reveals disadvantages of online evaluations, but also shows that both students and faculty benefit when online evaluations are implemented appropriately.
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