Grading Programming Assignments using Rubrics
Katrin Becker
Computer Science Education Group
Department of Computer Science
University of Calgary
2500 University Dr. N.W.
Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4
1 403 220 6784

becker@cpsc.ucalgary.ca
Categories and Subject Descriptors

3. RUBRICS

K.3.2 [Computers and Education]: Computer Science Education

One solution to this problem is to create relatively detailed
rubrics that outline what students must do to meet and
exceed the requirements. It can also provide details for
what constitutes failure to meet the requirements. The
approach we have taken in our first year classes is to create
two rubrics for each assignment: one which addresses
general style and design issues and one which addresses
elements specific to the particular problem being solved.
The general rubric is used for all assignments, partly so the
markers will become familiar with its contents – as they
become more familiar with it, the time they must spend
marking will go down.

General Terms
none

Keywords
Rubrics; Assessment

1. INTRODUCTION
Rubrics are a relatively well understood assessment
instrument, although it doesn't appear to be heavily used in
CSE. "Learning increases, even in its serendipitous aspects,
when learners have a sense of what they are setting out to
learn, a statement of explicit standards they must meet, and
a way of seeing what they have learned." [Loac86]
"Assessment requires [faculty] to articulate... explicit and
public statements of criteria of performance. By doing so,
faculty refine their own understanding of expected abilities,
clarify for their colleagues the basis of their judgment, and
enable students to understand what performance is
required." [5]

2. FEEDBACK ON PROGRAMMING
ASSIGNMENTS:
Students learning to program require extensive feedback on
their efforts in order to improve their approaches and
techniques. An on-going struggle is to strike an appropriate
balance between providing sufficient feedback for the
students on the one hand, and creating an effective marking
guide that can be used in a reasonable amount of time, and
yields consistent results when employed by different
markers on the other.
In our institution, we must cope with very large first year
classes (100-250 per section, multiple sections). This
usually necessitates more than one instructor and as many
as 22 teaching assistants in one term. Our teaching
assistants are typically graduate students with very diverse
backgrounds. Providing our students with consistent
marking has often been difficult.

The rubric is a 2D grid, where each row describes one
element of the program, problem or solution, and each
column relates to a level of achievement. Students may
choose how much effort they wish to put into an
assignment by choosing which elements they with to
satisfy. Each 'box' is assigned a value such that the totals of
the highest achievements in each row sum to a 'perfect'
score. Markers simply highlight the box that applies most
closely in each row and then adds up the corresponding
values. Each assignment applies two rubrics and the sum of
both becomes the student's mark.

4. EXAMPLES
[1] General
Programming
Assignment
Rubric:
http://pages.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/~becker/233/Asst/Progra
mRubric.htm
[2] 1st Assignment (transition from Pascal to Java) Rubric:
http://pages.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/~becker/233/Asst/Transit
ion/A1-Rubric.htm
[3] Solitaire
Game
Rubric:
http://pages.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/~becker/233/Asst/Solitair
e/A3-Rubric.htm
[4] Natural

Language

Parser

Rubric:

http://pages.cpac.ucalgary.ca/~becker/233/Asst/Parsing/A4Rubric.htm
COPYRIGHT IS HELD BY THE AUTHOR/OWNER(S).
ITICSE’03, JUNE 30–JULY 2, 2003, THESSALONIKI, GREECE
ACM 1-58813-672-2/03/0006.

[5] Loacker, G., Cromwell C., & O'Brien, K. "Assessment
in Higher Education: To Serve the Learner." In
Adelman, C (Ed.), "Assessment in American Higher

Education" (p47-62). Washington DC: U.S.
Department of Education, Office of Educational
research and Improvement. 1986, p47, p51