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A New Approach to Grading
Jason Grant is an Assistant Professor of Computing at Villanova University. He has been teaching computer science for over eight years, focusing on foundational courses like Algorithms and Data Structures I and II. These courses are programming-intensive, with large class sizes that make grading a time-consuming process.
When Jason’s university began transitioning to a new learning management system he decided to explore tools to streamline his workload. During his search, he came across CodeGrade, which piqued his interest as an option to simplify grading and improve feedback for students.
After an initial meeting, Jason was given access to a sandbox environment in CodeGrade. Over the course of a month, he familiarized himself with features like autograding and rubrics. Eager to implement these into his teaching, he worked on setting up his courses, and soon Jason had fully adopted CodeGrade in standalone mode.
Rethinking Assignment Design
One of the biggest impacts CodeGrade had on Jason’s teaching approach was in creating assessments. He admits, "It forces you to change the way you design your assignments." Before adopting the platform, he would often send out assignments to students and only afterward think about how to grade them.
He explains how the platform has made him more thoughtful in the way he evaluates students, ensuring his grading criteria are clearly defined from the outset. “Now I think about the assignment, the tests, and the rubrics at once. I have to plan the entire thing. It’s good because I’m thinking about how to test students as I design the assignment. I’m more intentional about the things I’m looking for.”
Getting started
Jason’s onboarding experience was straightforward. Miguel from the CodeGrade team provided an overview on the first day. Jason found the tutorial resources—both written guides and videos—beneficial and after the initial introduction, he felt confident enough to dive in and start exploring on his own.
