In computing the final score for the Computational Biosciences course, we take into account both the permanent evaluations (20%, 4/20) and the periodic evaluation (80%, 16/20). The permanent evaluation has two components that both influence the score for the permanent evaluation.

For the first part of the permanent evaluation, the students have to work on a series of 60 mandatory exercises. Based on the covered programming techniques, these exercises are subdivided into 10 series of 6 mandatory exercises each. The first exercise of each series always is a variation on the manipulation of ISBN numbers. A sample solution of this exercise is available from Minerva, and in an accompanying instruction video we explain how we came to this sample solution. As such, the ISBN exercises explain how the new programming technique from the series can be brought into practive. After this preparatory steps, students are ready to apply the new programming technique themselves in solving the other five programming exercises from the series. Students must submit their solutions of the mandatory exercises in each series (including the ISBN exercise) through the online learning environment Dodona before a set deadline (deadlines always fall at 22:00 on the Tuesday that follows the hands-on session dedicated to the series of exercises). Dodona gives students a nice overview of the mandatory exercises in each series, the submission deadlines and the current status of each exercise.

For the second part of the permanent evaluation, we organise two evaluation sessions during the hands-on sessions that follow after five exercise series. During these evaluations, students have to solve two new programming exercises within the time frame of two hours. It is allowed to make use of the Dodona platform during the evaluations, so that students can check the correctness of their solutions at all times. The submitted solutions for the evaluation exercises are manually evaluated by the lecturer or the teaching assistants and scored based on correctness, programming style used, choice made between the use of different programming techniques and the overall quality of the solution. The level of difficulty of the evaluation exercises is lower than that of the exercises that need to be solved during the periodic evaluation (exam), as we mainly want to check at this time during the semester if the students master the basic programming skills. In addition, these evaluation sessions follow the same procedure that is also used during the periodic evaluations, so that students can use this experience to adjust their approach towards the exam.

The score for the permanent evaluation is determined using the formula s * c / a, where s is the score a student has obtains based on his submitted solutions for the evaluation exercises (expressed as a score out of 20), c is the number of mandatory exerices for which at least one correct solutions has been submitted before the weekly deadlines, and a is the total number of mandatory exercises (30 per evaluation series). A student that for example has obtained a score of 16/20 for his evaluation exercises and that has submitted correct solutions for all 30 mandatory exercises before the weekly deadlines, obtains a score of 16 * 30/30 = 16 out of 20 for the evaluation series. If that student still had obtained a score of 16/20 for his evaluation exercises, but only submitted 18/30 correct solutions for the mandatory exercises before the weekly deadlines, he sees his score for the evaluation series reduced to 16 * 18/30 = 9.6 out of 20.

Students will receive an email with their score for the evaluation series as soon as possible after each evaluation session. During the next hands-on session, students can collect their submitted solutions that will have been annotated with feedback that indicates where they can improve their code. They can use this feedback in solving other programming exercises.

It is not possible to retake the permanent evaluation during the second examination period. To compute the score for the second examination period, we compute two scores. One score takes into account the score for the permanent evaluations (with weight 20%, as was done during the first examination period). The other score ignores the score obtains for the permanent evaluations, and is only based on the score for the periodic evaluation. The final score for the second examination period is the maximum of these two scores.

During the periodic evaluation (exam) students are given 3.5 hours to solve three programming exercises. It is allowed to make use of the Dodona platform during the periodic evaluation, so that students can check the correctness of their solutions at all times and receive immediate feedback on the correctness and the programming style of their submitted solutions. To determine the score for the periodic solution, the submitted solutions are manually evaluated by the lecturer or the teaching assistants and scored based on correctness, programming style used, choice made between the use of different programming techniques and the overall quality of the solution.