"I do not think it would be possible for my course and the feedback on the assignments to be as good as it is now."

I’ve used CodeGrade in my Datastructures and Algorithms course for the past few years and have found that it greatly simplifies the process of giving detailed individual code feedback to large groups of students.

Streamlined workflow

Firstly, the provided tools streamline my workflow as a teacher: The grading menu allows for an equal randomized division of the assignments among the TA’s, having a remote file system allows for easy access to student solutions with the option to modify them if needed, and having an API allows for the automatically graded elements of an assignment to be directly filled into the grading rubric for all students.

Enhancing feedback

Secondly, it provides a single interface to present several different forms of feedback to the students: The inline feedback is used to place remarks about specific sections of code in a way that the student can also immediately see the code that was commented on, the grading rubric is used to give the students a transparent overview of all elements that contributed to their final grade for the assignment, and the changed file overview highlights any small changes TA’s might have made to student code as part of the assessment.

The combination of these features means that feedback for coding assignments can be communicated more clearly and effectively to students, thus improving the level of the course overall.