Pedagogical Benefits of Automatic Grading in Computer Science education

Challenges in Computer Science education in 2022

Computer Science programs all over the globe are facing unique challenges due to the high demand for skilled computer scientists and programmers. Student numbers are through the roof: the Computing Research Association reported that the number of CS undergraduates in the US more than doubled between 2013 to 2017 and Computer Science is the largest growing A Level subject in the UK according to BCS. At the same time, hiring and retaining faculty to meet this demand has been more challenging than ever. Universities simply cannot compete with tech giants and other big companies.

A 2019 article from The New York Times illustrates these challenges very well. As a result, computer science students from some campuses said they faced overcrowded classes with overworked professors. Coding electives have long waiting lists and university leaders are concerned they will have to limit access to Computer Science programs soon. Experts warn that having such acceptance criteria to CS majors may disadvantage those who are already unrepresented in computer science education.

More and more professors are adopting tools to assist them with this higher demand, in an effort to decrease the workload and manage unprecedented class sizes. Furthermore, with the popularity of coding MOOCs and electives rising, universities need to find ways to provide high quality coding education to a much larger and diverse audience. 

But, seeing the adoption of automatic code grading tools just as a way to manage larger class sizes does not do justice to the effects they have on professors and students. Effectively using autograding tools can greatly increase the quality of education, student performance and satisfaction. Those benefits will be discussed in this article.