Automated assessment and marking of spreadsheet concepts

An academic goal of a university is to ensure that student learning outcomes are achieved to their maximum potential. Attainment of academic goals however, can often be in conflict with attempts to realise administrative or business goals, as these may be perceived as being easily achieved through rationalisation of academic costs. The modern university must find a balance in the optimisation of these goals. This was recognised by (Cranitch 1991) “...with large numbers of students with different learning styles, there is a need to develop instructional arrangements that maximise student learning, while trying to minimise the cost in terms of time, effort and money”. Practically this may mean trying to maximise individual learning outcomes within very large classes, while trying to cope with the problems associated with large classes. One method of doing this is to reduce the logistic load or the management complexity of large classes, eg the PACE system (Oliver & Mitchell, 1996) for assessment management. Another is by automating some of the tasks related to student learning outcomes, eg the provision of consistent, adequate and timely feedback.