The design of online tests for Computer Science I and their effectiveness

Solving problems on a computer is the focus of Computer Science I. Therefore, it may be move effective to hold tests online than in written form in this course. Yet, online tests are not widely used because of a perceived need for elaborate technological infrastructure and the feasibility of holding a fair fixed-duration online test that is not intimidating to students. In this paper, we present our design of online tests for Computer Science I that does not require elaborate technological infrastructure. We also evaluate the effectiveness of holding tests online in Computer Science I. We found that students like online tests; students tend to do better in online tests than on written tests, and there is a correlation between the number of projects a student completes in the course and the student´s grade in online tests.