Web-CAT Submission Energy

The submission energy bar is a new feature that has been added to Web-CAT to aid to students. This page helps outline some of the questions you may have, as well as some of the background with the energy bar. If you have additional questions, feel free to post them on Piazza. We will update this FAQ over time.

How does it work?

For each assignment, you have an energy bar that holds up to 3 units of submission energy. Each time you submit to Web-CAT, one unit of energy is used. Your bar will then regenerate energy at a rate of 1 unit per hour until it is full again. If your energy runs out, you cannot submit to Web-CAT again until another unit of energy is regenerated.

Help! The deadline is approaching and I'm out of energy!

Lack of energy won't prevent you from submitting your final work before the deadline. If you run out of energy and your next unit won't regenerate until after the deadline, don't worry--Web-CAT will allow you to submit your work without energy and process it immediately, until the deadline is reached. Simply put, if you submit within an hour of the deadline, Web-CAT won't "lock you out" of submitting, even if you have no energy left.

What happens if I submit, but have no energy?

If your next unit of energy won't regenerate until after the due deadline, your submission will be processed immediately (see above).

Otherwise, if you are submitting through the web interface, you cannot submit if you have no energy.

If you are submitting from inside your IDE, the results page you receive will indicate you're out of energy and ask you to wait until your energy regenerates.

In either case, simply wait until the next unit of submission energy regenerates to resubmit.

Where did the idea come from?

The submission energy bar was inspired by many mobile games (like Clash of Clans) in which the user is given a limit on the number of actions they can perform, but the limit replenishes over time. Research has shown that such systems have encouraged gamers to change their behavior by revisiting tasks periodically over a longer period of time instead of binge-playing in just one or two sittings.

It turns out that on programming assignments, research has shown that starting earlier and working over more work sessions leads individuals to earn higher scores than they would if they binge-programmed in one or two marathon sessions just before the deadline. Binge programming at the last minute results in lower scores for most students. Thus, the submission energy bar was born.

Why was the energy bar developed?

There are several reasons the energy bar helps students...

1. Help students get better grades. If you start earlier, you will have the opportunity to make more submissions and get more feedback over a longer period of time. Earlier feedback gives you more time to ask questions in class, visit office hours, or participate in discussions in class forums. If you get stuck, you have more time to get help becoming unstuck. And finally, it allows you to recognize opportunities to apply what you hear in class to your assignments. If, on the other hand, you wait until the last minute to get started, often there isn't time to seek help.

2. Encourage students to think about their changes. When you are developing your solution and come across a problem, some students fall back on a "guess and check" strategy where they make small changes and resubmit their work, sometimes leading to a very large number of Web-CAT submissions in order to resolve the issues. Unfortunately, research indicates that this pattern isn't helpful for learning, because the student may not understand the source of the problem, or may not understand the effects of the changes they are trying out. The recharge rate on submission energy encourages students to think through the meaning of any change, to double-check changes locally first, and to resolve multiple errors at a time, rather than trying out guesses with submission after submission. When you think harder about the effects of your changes, and confirm for yourself they do what you want before you submit, you learn more and learn faster.

3. Reduces Web-CAT congestion. Submission energy keeps other students from overloading Web-CAT when you need to get feedback on your own submissions, too.

What strategies can I apply to get the most out of the energy bar?

• Start working earlier. By working earlier, you will get the opportunity to make more submissions. As you work earlier, you can recognize how labs, lecture, and other assignments provide clues on how to complete the assignments. It's hard to recognize these if you wait until the last minute.

• Plan out how you spend your time. Think explicitly about when you want to schedule your programming sessions into your weekly schedule, so you are more deliberate about spreading your effort out instead of focusing on a small number of marathon programming sessions or an all-nighter.

• Make the most of each submission. If Web-CAT indicated you have several errors or issues, try to fix as many as possible before making a new submission. Try to fix or add test cases. Basically, make smart submissions and think through the consequences of the changes you make--because that's how you exercise your skills and learn how to improve.