Students' Experience and Use of Assessment in an Online Introductory Programming Course

Assessment has long been seen as an important part of teaching and has shown to have an impact on how students approach learning. In this study students’ experience of assessment in an online introductory programming course is investigated. This is studied through semi-structured interviews, with seven students, which are analyzed using a phenomenographic research approach. The results consist of five categories in which the students experience the given assessment; the grading is important to the teacher, the grading is important to the student, assessment as guidance, assessment as an opportunity to learn and assessment as a way to communicate. This paper also shows that three categories, assessment as guidance, assessment as an opportunity to learn and assessment as a way to communicate, are the most desirable.