There are a lot of ways to evaluate student progress in computer science. I really enjoy projects, because it allows for creativity and fun, but it can be useful to gauge code-reading comprehension and time-boxed problem-solving in a variety of ways as well.
One evaluation method that works well is having students solve simple coding problems and running a series of test cases. CodingBat is a great resource for this, but a platform like CodeSignal or Codeboard.io can be a great way to do the same problems, but with a teacher dashboard (and, of course, you can write your own problems and test cases!).
CodeSignal
CodeSignal is a great platform with a lot of pre-made coding problems, but you can also construct your own to practice concepts your students have been working on, and add your own test cases! Here are a few I made:
- onlySmallWords (arrays, strings, chars)
- littlestWord (arrays, strings, chars)
- withoutTen (adapted from CodingBat.com — arrays)
Codeboard.io
Codeboard.io is another coding problem platform that lets you write your own problems and test cases, with a slightly more powerful teacher’s dashboard view.
- double_vals (lists, comparison)
Although Kahoot is a hugely popular classroom quizzing tool, I actually prefer Quizizz. It allows students to work through questions at their own pace, while still getting the thrill of a “leaderboard” and competing against their classmates. Plus, there are a lot of settings you can adjust, and students can retake questions they missed at the end!
