{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T01:14:53Z","timestamp":1760145293233,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,6,30]],"date-time":"2024-06-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1719705600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para a Ci\u00eancia e a Tecnologia (FCT)"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Computers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In this study, we present the DP Plugin for IntelliJ IDEA, designed to extend the Drop Project (DP) Automatic Assessment Tool (AAT) by making it more suitable for handling small exercises in exercise-based learning environments. Our aim was to address the limitations of DP in supporting small assignments while retaining its strengths in project-based learning. The plugin leverages DP\u2019s REST API to streamline the submission process, integrating assignment instructions and feedback directly within the IDE. A student survey conducted during the 2022\/23 academic year revealed a positive reception, highlighting benefits such as time efficiency and ease of use. Students also provided valuable feedback, leading to various improvements that have since been integrated into the plugin. Despite these promising results, the study is limited by the relatively small percentage of survey respondents. Our findings suggest that an IDE plugin can significantly improve the usability of project-oriented AATs for small exercises, informing the development of future educational tools suitable for mixed project-based and exercise-based learning environments.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/computers13070162","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,1]],"date-time":"2024-07-01T04:53:27Z","timestamp":1719809607000},"page":"162","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Bridging the Gap between Project-Oriented and Exercise-Oriented Automatic Assessment Tools"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2017-7511","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bruno Pereira","family":"Cipriano","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"ECATI, Lus\u00f3fona University, Campo Grande, 376, 1749-024 Lisboa, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-4511-3509","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bernardo","family":"Baltazar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ECATI, Lus\u00f3fona University, Campo Grande, 376, 1749-024 Lisboa, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8487-5837","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nuno","family":"Fachada","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ECATI, Lus\u00f3fona University, Campo Grande, 376, 1749-024 Lisboa, Portugal"},{"name":"COPELABS, Lus\u00f3fona University, Campo Grande, 376, 1749-024 Lisboa, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9676-8599","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Athanasios","family":"Vourvopoulos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Systems and Robotics\u2014Lisboa, Instituto Superior T\u00e9cnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4054-0792","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Pedro","family":"Alves","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ECATI, Lus\u00f3fona University, Campo Grande, 376, 1749-024 Lisboa, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,6,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Enstr\u00f6m, E., Kreitz, G., Niemel\u00e4, F., S\u00f6derman, P., and Kann, V. (2011, January 12\u201315). Five years with kattis\u2014Using an automated assessment system in teaching. Proceedings of the 2011 Frontiers in Education conference (FIE), Rapid City, SD, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/FIE.2011.6142931"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"101079","DOI":"10.1016\/j.softx.2022.101079","article-title":"Drop Project: An automatic assessment tool for programming assignments","volume":"18","author":"Cipriano","year":"2022","journal-title":"SoftwareX"},{"key":"ref_3","first-page":"34","article-title":"Automated Assessment in Computer Science Education: A State-of-the-Art review","volume":"22","author":"Paiva","year":"2022","journal-title":"ACM Trans. Comput. Educ. (TOCE)"},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"Luxton-Reilly, A., Tempero, E., Arachchilage, N., Chang, A., Denny, P., Fowler, A., Giacaman, N., Kontorovich, I., Lottridge, D., and Manoharan, S. (February, January 30). Automated Assessment: Experiences From the Trenches. Proceedings of the 25th Australasian Computing Education Conference, Melbourne, VIC, Australia."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ihantola, P., Ahoniemi, T., Karavirta, V., and Sepp\u00e4l\u00e4, O. (2010, January 28\u201331). Review of recent systems for automatic assessment of programming assignments. Proceedings of the 10th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research, Koli, Finland.","DOI":"10.1145\/1930464.1930480"},{"key":"ref_6","first-page":"3","article-title":"A systematic literature review of automated feedback generation for programming exercises","volume":"19","author":"Keuning","year":"2018","journal-title":"ACM Trans. Comput. Educ. (TOCE)"},{"key":"ref_7","unstructured":"Silva, A., Leal, J.P., and Paiva, J.C. (2018, January 21\u201322). Raccode: An Eclipse Plugin for Assessment of Programming Exercises (Short Paper). Proceedings of the 7th Symposium on Languages, Applications and Technologies (SLATE 2018), Guimaraes, Portugal. Schloss Dagstuhl-Leibniz-Zentrum fuer Informatik."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Heckman, S., and King, J. (2018, January 21\u201324). Developing Software Engineering Skills using Real Tools for Automated Grading. Proceedings of the 49th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, Baltimore, MD, USA.","DOI":"10.1145\/3159450.3159595"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Offutt, J., Ammann, P., Dobolyi, K., Kauffmann, C., Lester, J., Praphamontripong, U., Rangwala, H., Setia, S., Wang, P., and White, L. (2017, January 20\u201321). A novel self-paced model for teaching programming. Proceedings of the Fourth (2017) ACM Conference on Learning@Scale, Cambridge, MA, USA.","DOI":"10.1145\/3051457.3053978"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lenfant, R., Wanner, A., Hott, J.R., and Pettit, R. (2023, January 7\u201312). Project-Based and Assignment-Based Courses: A Study of Piazza Engagement and Gender in Online Courses. Proceedings of the 2023 Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 1, Turku, Finland.","DOI":"10.1145\/3587102.3588833"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lukefahr, H., Watterson, C., Roberts, A., Carnegie, D., and Atkins, M. (2019, January 16\u201319). Project-Based Learning to Improve Core First-Year Engineering Courses. Proceedings of the 2019 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), Covington, KY, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/FIE43999.2019.9028514"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bridson, K., Atkinson, J., and Fleming, S.D. (2022, January 3\u20135). Delivering Round-the-Clock Help to Software Engineering Students Using Discord: An Experience Report. Proceedings of the 53rd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education-Volume 1, Providence, RI, USA.","DOI":"10.1145\/3478431.3499385"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Edwards, S.H., and Murali, K.P. (2017, January 3\u20135). CodeWorkout: Short Programming Exercises with Built-in Data Collection. Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, Bologna, Italy.","DOI":"10.1145\/3059009.3059055"},{"key":"ref_14","first-page":"1","article-title":"Systemwide Implementation of Project-Based Learning: The Philadelphia Approach","volume":"15","author":"Schwalm","year":"2012","journal-title":"Afterschool Matters"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"145","DOI":"10.1080\/030437900308544","article-title":"Motivation and attrition in engineering students","volume":"25","author":"Baillie","year":"2000","journal-title":"Eur. J. Eng. Educ."},{"key":"ref_16","unstructured":"Grotta, A., and Prado, E.P.V. (2019, January 12\u201313). Benefits of the project-based learning to cope with computer programming education: A systematic literature review. Proceedings of the PBL2019 Immersive Virtual International Conference, Virtual."},{"key":"ref_17","first-page":"2","article-title":"Engineering Education\u2014Is Problem-based Or Project-Based Learning The Answer?","volume":"3","author":"Mills","year":"2003","journal-title":"Australas. J. Eng. Educ."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Insa, D., and Silva, J. (2015, January 4\u20138). Semi-Automatic Assessment of Unrestrained Java Code: A Library, a DSL, and a Workbench to Assess Exams and Exercises. Proceedings of the 2015 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, Vilnius, Lithuania.","DOI":"10.1145\/2729094.2742615"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"\u0160kori\u0107, I., Orehova\u010dki, T., and Iva\u0161i\u0107-Kos, M. (2020, January 27\u201329). Exploring the acceptance of the web-based coding tool in an introductory programming course: A pilot study. Proceedings of the International Conference on Human Interaction and Emerging Technologies, Paris, France.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-55307-4_7"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"197","DOI":"10.1080\/08993408.2018.1435113","article-title":"Using automatic machine assessment to teach computer programming","volume":"27","author":"Maguire","year":"2017","journal-title":"Comput. Sci. Educ."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"567","DOI":"10.1002\/spe.522","article-title":"Mooshak: A Web-based Multi-site Programming Contest System","volume":"33","author":"Leal","year":"2003","journal-title":"Softw. Pract. Exp."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5","DOI":"10.1145\/1140123.1140130","article-title":"Combating Anonymousness in Populous CS1 and CS2 Courses","volume":"38","author":"Guerreiro","year":"2006","journal-title":"ACM SIGCSE Bull."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"328","DOI":"10.1145\/1597849.1384371","article-title":"Web-CAT: Automatically Grading Programming Assignments","volume":"40","author":"Edwards","year":"2008","journal-title":"SIGCSE Bull."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sharp, C., van Assema, J., Yu, B., Zidane, K., and Malan, D.J. (2020, January 15\u201319). An Open-Source, API-Based Framework for Assessing the Correctness of Code in CS50. Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, Trondheim, Norway. ITiCSE \u201920.","DOI":"10.1145\/3341525.3387417"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"71","DOI":"10.1145\/2723872.2723882","article-title":"An introduction to Docker for reproducible research","volume":"49","author":"Boettiger","year":"2015","journal-title":"ACM SIGOPS Oper. Syst. Rev."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Baniassad, E., Zamprogno, L., Hall, B., and Holmes, R. (2021, January 13\u201320). Stop the (autograder) insanity: Regression penalties to deter autograder overreliance. Proceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, Virtual.","DOI":"10.1145\/3408877.3432430"},{"key":"ref_27","unstructured":"Cipriano, B.P. (2024, June 26). How to Use Drop Project to Create Programming Assignments. Available online: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=65IwIBuMDlE."},{"key":"ref_28","unstructured":"Baltazar, B. (2024, June 26). Drop Project Student Plugin. Available online: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=N2YUvU3Lxm4."},{"key":"ref_29","unstructured":"Brown, T., Mann, B., Ryder, N., Subbiah, M., Kaplan, J.D., Dhariwal, P., Neelakantan, A., Shyam, P., Sastry, G., and Askell, A. (2020, January 6\u201312). Language Models are Few-Shot Learners. Proceedings of the Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 33: Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems 2020, NeurIPS 2020, Virtual."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Cipriano, B.P. (2024, January 8\u201310). Towards the Integration of Large Language Models in an Object-Oriented Programming Course. Proceedings of the 2024 Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, Milan, Italy.","DOI":"10.1145\/3649405.3659473"},{"key":"ref_31","unstructured":"Cipriano, B.P., Baltazar, B., Alves, P., and Fachada, N. (2024, June 26). Drop Project Student Plugin for IntelliJ IDEA\u2014Evaluation Survey. Available online: https:\/\/zenodo.org\/records\/8432997."}],"container-title":["Computers"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2073-431X\/13\/7\/162\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T15:08:10Z","timestamp":1760108890000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2073-431X\/13\/7\/162"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2024,6,30]]},"references-count":31,"journal-issue":{"issue":"7","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,7]]}},"alternative-id":["computers13070162"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/computers13070162","relation":{},"ISSN":["2073-431X"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"2073-431X"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2024,6,30]]}}}