1. WeBWorK Java Evaluator
Nathan Baur

2. Summary Project Goals What is a Course Management System?
How does the Java evaluator work?
Framework
JUnit testing
Writing problems

3. Project Goals Gently introduce programming concepts
Grade code fragments or entire programs
Provide specific feedback to help students identify the problems with their code
Provide professors with an easy, flexible system for writing questions
Integrate the evaluator into an existing Course Management System

4. What it looks like

5. What is a Course Management System?
Tracks grades and assignments automatically
Some grade certain types assignments automatically, providing immediate feedback
Popular CMS’s include Moodle, Blackboard and WeBWorK

6. Why choose WeBWorK? Open-source Flexible, modular design
Well supported
Already used by a number of institutions

7. How does the evaluator work?
Students are provided with a simple WeBWorK interface to input code
Student
WeBWorK

8. How does the evaluator work?
Student code is sent from WeBWorK to the Java Evaluator module, which inserts the code into a template file to create a complete Java class
Student
WeBWorK
Evaluator

9. How does the evaluator work?
The Java evaluator launches problem-specific JUnit tests to be run on the student code
Student
WeBWorK
Evaluator
JUnit

10. How does the evaluator work?
JUnit returns the results to the Java evaluator module
Student
WeBWorK
Evaluator
JUnit

11. How does the evaluator work?
The Java evaluator formats the results into a message for feedback which is sent to WeBWorK
Student
WeBWorK
Evaluator
JUnit

12. How does the evaluator work?
WeBWorK gives the students feedback and gives them the opportunity to fix the code and try again.
Student
WeBWorK
Evaluator
JUnit

13. JUnit Unit testing framework
Tests are written in Java using JUnit classes
Code can be tested for any circumstance
Custom failure messages can be provided based on how the test failed

14. Writing problems WeBWorK PG file in perl Template .java file
Includes the problem description and specifies the .java files to be used by JUnit
Template .java file
Usually minimal
Includes class definition and problem-specific setup so that students don’t have to deal with it
JUnit test file
Includes the tests and feedback messages

15. Sample PG file
DOCUMENT(); # This should be the first executable line in the problem.
loadMacros(
"PG.pl",
"PGbasicmacros.pl",
"PGchoicemacros.pl",
"PGanswermacros.pl",
"PGauxiliaryFunctions.pl",
"javaAnswerEvaluators.pl" );
BEGIN_TEXT
Hello World! $PAR Given a String object myString, assign it to "Hello World!“ $BR
\{ANS_BOX(1,1,30);\}
END_TEXT
ANS(java_cmp("JavaSampleSet/HelloWorld/","HelloWorld"));
ENDDOCUMENT(); # This should be the last executable line in the problem.

16. Sample .java template file
public class HelloWorld {
private String myString;
public HelloWorld(){
doIt(); }
public void doIt(){
replaceme
public String getMyString(){
return myString;

17. Sample JUnit test file import junit.framework.*;
public class HelloWorldJUnitTest extends TestCase{
private HelloWorld hw;
private String ans = "Hello World!";
public void testDefined(){
Assert.assertTrue("Assigning the variable", hw.getMyString()!=null); }
public void testCorrect(){
Assert.assertTrue("Making it say exactly \"Hello World!\"“ , hw.getMyString.equals(ans));
public static Test suite(){
return new TestSuite(HelloWorldJUnitTest.class);

18. Acknowledgements Andy Wildenberg Jacqueline Baldwin Christelle Scharff
Cornell College
PACE University
Made possible by NSF grant #