GradeXL: Flexible and Extensible Platform for Automated Grading of MS Excel Assignment

Automated grading methods have been widely implemented into students' learning processes in many ways. Allowing learners to get quick and meaningful feedback on the work they are doing grants them the opportunity to learn faster and engage more with the material. Automated grading can also offer great benefits to the instructor(s) that will not have to do as much work manually. Current frameworks focus on addressing either assisting the student or instructor directly. Instructors commonly assign work that requires students to create Excel files which meet certain criteria (e.g. fill in the cells of a table with the correct formula to calculate some type of values). Our platform aims to assist both students and instructors by allowing access to the same engine through different interfaces. The engine can hold multiple assignments so that users can access the platform as needed.