Automatic Mapping of Student 3D Profiles in Software Metrics for Temporal Analysis of Programming Learning and Scoring Rubrics

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to present an online system for a 3D representation of programming students' profiles on software metrics that quantify effort and quality of programming from the analysis of source codes. In this representation, each student profile is a three-dimensional vector represented by a set of programming solutions developed by a student and mapped on 348 metrics of software during a programming course. Applying this profile representation, we developed a system with the following functionalities: generation of student's timelines to verify the evolution of metrics in a sequence of programming solutions over a course, different visualizations of these variables, automatic selection of representative codes for composition of rubrics with less effort of evaluation and selection of metrics that more influence in scores attributed by teachers. The advantages of this system are to enable the analysis of where the learning difficulties begin, the monitoring of how a class evolves along a course and the dynamic composition of rubric representations to inform assessment criteria. The system proposed therefore presents itself as a relevant tool to assist teachers about decisions of an evaluative process, allowing in fact to assist students from the beginning to the end of a course.