Self-assessment web tool for java programming

Abstract

Self-assessment capabilities, that enables the student to have an insight on his own learning process, are a very desirable skill on any higher education student. It is even more important for transnational students as it allows them to successfully adapt to their new international learning environment. Present work proposes an online tool to help computer science students to develop their self-assessment skills while learning Java programming. It consists on a plug-in for the widely popular Moodle learning management system to work with source code for the Java programming language. The developed plug-in lets students to upload source files, analyzes the code and presents a report to the student using industry standard tools. The report includes both errors, points of improvement and a general comparison with the rest of his classmates, from the software quality standpoint. This way, the student is provided with a framework against to which compare the correctness of the solution he/she has programmed before it is delivered to the teacher for evaluation. The teacher is able to access all this information too, facilitating an insight of how the class, as well as individual students, is progressing. It is expected that the shortening on the classical loop of the student problem solution and teacher feedback will enhance the student self-awareness and will improve his overall performance in programming courses.