Introduction to EESyGrader
EES (pronounced 'ease') is an acronym for Engineering Equation Solver. The basic function provided by EES is the numerical solution of linear and non-linear algebraic and differential equations. EES is used at many universities in order to provide students with the opportunity to use powerful, professional software to solve real-world engineering problems.
EESyGrader provides a tool that allows instructors to automatically grade large numbers of EES programs that are submitted by students in large enrollment classes such as Statics, Thermodynamics, and Heat Transfer. Providing students with many chances to solve problems is fundamental to their growth as an engineer. This is typically done using low-stakes homework assignments together with projects and exams. In order to motivate their progress it is important that these assessments be accurately graded. However, grading large numbers of homework assignments by hand is tedious and has limited pedogical value.
The EESyGrader program provides a solution to this problem. Students submit their EES files to your normal Learning Management System. These submissions can be downloaded to a directory where the EESyGrader program opens each one and grades them according to a rubric you have set up. The results are summarized in a grade report that can be uploaded to your Learning Management System.
EESyGrader streamlines your ability to grade problems that were done using the Engineering Equation Solver (EES) software. By automating the grading process your time or your student assistants' time can be redirected from grading to helping students when they get stuck via office hours, problem solving sessions, and online discussion forums. You can take advantage of the autograding to provide students with answers to one or more test cases so that they know if they are on the right track or should get help before they submit the assignment. EES will automatically generate a starter code and rubric for a solution and also allows students to automatically check that all required output variables are present in order to help prevent student submission errors. These features make EESyGrader a powerful tool that will allow you to include real-world problems in your engineering classes and provide fast and accurate feedback to students.