Designing a system for automated generation and automated assessment of parameterized practical assignments

The article addresses the issue of ensuring academic integrity in the context of distance learning, particularly with regard to completion of practical assignments in engineering disciplines. The increasing incidence of unauthorized use of external resources, generative artificial intelligence, technical tools during online assessments, and identity substitution underscores urgent need for task individualization and automated monitoring of task completion. In response to these challenges, the authors propose the information technology and system for the automated generation of parameterized practical assignments (individualized for each student), with subsequent deployment of controlled and isolated learning environments and automatic result verification. To define the system components, they were organized, and overall complexity was reduced through abstraction and separation of responsibilities, the system architecture was developed and the functional purpose of each module was described. The architecture comprises five modules, namely: assignment generation, instructions verification module, personal learning environment deployment, automated assessment and result processing. Within the article, the specialized language Learning Task Definition Language (LTDL) that formalizes assignment templates, environment configuration instructions and evaluation criteria was introduced. The conducted study demonstrates that manual preparation of personalized assignments imposes excessive time demands on instructors, whereas automation significantly reduces workload, enhances transparency of assessment, and mitigates cases of academic dishonesty. The system integrates with the Moodle learning management system and supports different backends: virtual machines, Docker containers, cloud platforms and JupiterLab. The article also provides specific recommendations for implementing the system within the educational processes of technically oriented academic departments.