Feedback in Context: Using a Code Review Tool for Program Grading

Mary Elaine Califf, Nick Dunne

Abstract: The goal of evaluating student work should go beyond summative feedback and the assignment of a grade. However, providing meaningful formative feedback on a program requires connecting the feedback with relevant code segments. We report on program grading using an open-source extension, Code Review, for Visual Studio Code. The extension is designed for professional code review but can be adapted for grading with minimal setup. Once set up, we found the tool straightforward and easy to use. The report given to students provides the category and feedback along with the code itself for each code segment the grader comments on, sorted by file name and location within the file. The category for each comment was used to connect feedback to the rubric used to evaluate programs in the course. We surveyed students in our upper-level algorithms and data structures course in spring 2021. More than 80% of students responding reported that this approach to program grading was more helpful than feedback received in other programming courses the student had taken. Similar numbers of students reported that the feedback improved their learning in the course and helped them "become a better programmer."