CASE STUDY

Large Ivy League University Uses Codio to Power Computer Science Courses On-Campus and Online

Codio is the key technology used to deliver Computer Science and Mathematics courses.

About this Institution

3,000+

Students using Codio

20+

Faculty Members Using Codio

4

Departments using Codio

Courses Taught Using Codio

  1. Introduction to Computer Science
  2. Data Structures
  3. Bioinformatics

How Codio is Used

The Codio platform provides everything instructors need to deliver courses and everything students need to code.

Each student automatically gets a cloud-based virtual server as well as a browser-based IDE. The virtual server has the entire software stack necessary for students to write, compile and execute code during the course.

The following stack components were installed and configured into the virtual server template by faculty and without any assistance from Codio or special modifications of the Codio product.

• OpenGL
• SQL Alchemy
• MPlayer video codecs
• C++ compiler and tooling

Watch On-Demand Demo

Why Codio

Key Factors
  1. The integrated and automated nature of the platform avoids many individual technical issues.
  2. Auto-graded questions and auto-graded code assessments
  3. LMS & Gradebook Integration
  4. Faculty don't have to act as support staff for students due to the platform being web-based
  5. Each assignment is a full-powered VM that can be configured with any programming language, database, component, etc., even providing sudo level privileges
  6. Knowing that all students would start each assignment with the exact same configuration, no matter how complex

Codio provides the framework for each student’s work to be automatically graded. In this case, a specialized Python grading script was custom-written by our faculty. The grading results are then fed back to the Canvas LMS platform.

The integrated nature of the Codio platform is very important. Without a fully automated and integrated approach, the department would have had to solve many individual technical problems and then integrate them.

Integrations with edX and LMS would also have had to be tackled. In short, there are myriad components, integrations, and issues that would need to be managed if we weren't using an integrated platform such as Codio. These include:

• Configuring and distributing virtualized or containerized environments
• Each student connecting their IDE to the container
• Faculty managing considerable tech support issues relating to the installation and configuration of a range of IDEs, resulting in time spent and high student attrition
• Submitting student code to a grading server
• Passing the resulting grades back to a gradebook or LMS

Codio takes care of all of these features such that every aspect of the course work can be delivered using only a browser and without students needing to install a thing.

Watch On-Demand Demo

The Codio Difference

Key Benefits
  1. Significant time savings—we implemented our solution in Codio within two weeks compared with over 3 months with another product
  2. The Codio support and technical teams are extremely responsive and pay close attention to detail
  3. The ease of configuration for any programming scenario and the fact that we can configure everything ourselves
  4. The integrated nature, flexibility, and the fact that all students need is a web browser and an internet connection

Before adopting Codio, our department spent 3 months trying to use another product. During that time we only managed to get 60% implemented also requiring substantial customization of the platform by the vendor.

We then discovered Codio, fully implemented our solution in 2 weeks with no product customizations needed. We have since been very successful in running courses both internally and on edX.

We've worked with technical teams from many companies in the past and Codio really stands out from the crowd. Not only have we enjoyed working with Codio's technical team, but we're also extremely impressed with their responsiveness and attention to detail.

What we love about Codio is the ease of configuration for any programming scenario and the fact that we can configure it entirely ourselves. Its integrated nature, flexibility, and the fact that all students need is a browser are fantastic.

Easily configure any programming scenario

Professor of Computer Science
Engineering Department, Ivy League University

"What we love about Codio is the ease of configuration for any programming scenario and the fact that we can configure it entirely ourselves. Its integrated nature, flexibility, and the fact that all students need is a browser are fantastic."

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