Software Metrics: A Rigorous and Practical Approach
Software Metrics: A Rigorous and Practical Approach
Towards a Framework for Software Measurement Validation
IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering
First year programming: let all the flowers bloom
ACE '03 Proceedings of the fifth Australasian conference on Computing education - Volume 20
A multi-national study of reading and tracing skills in novice programmers
Working group reports from ITiCSE on Innovation and technology in computer science education
The development of knowledge in novice programmers
Proceedings of the ninth annual international conference on International computing education research
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Many computing education studies have reported poor learning outcomes in programming courses for novices. Yet methods for measuring students' ability to generate computer programs remains an open research problem. In this paper we review some limitations of existing approaches for assessing student programs. We then propose a set of valid and reliable metrics for the direct measurement of novices' program code. Distributions of each metric are given for student populations. The metrics can be utilised for both diagnostic and formative assessment. Examples of formative assessments are given and a new diagnostic metric is presented for Perkins' "stoppers" and "movers" learning styles. This metric captures the multi-dimensional distance of a student's program from a target solution. The metric can be used by instructors to triage a large set of submissions and to tailor formative feedback to individuals.