Automate grading students' assignments in Revit class

[Haden]

I have been teaching Revit classes for several years now, and find the biggest challenge is taking time to grade all the assignments my students submit.

I am trying to decide if it is practical for me to take the time to master the Revit API and the related applications to a point where I can write automated macros that could evaluate the elements within a Revit file submitted for an assignment.

Does anyone have any experience tackling this type of task, or at least an idea if such a goal is practical, given the current status of the Revit API?

[Dimitri Harvalias]

Autodesk may have already done you the favour.
Have you had a look at the Model Review add in that was added with the Subscription Advantage Pack? You might be able to get part way there using these tools. It depends what you are trying to check for.

I completely understand what you are saying. I have taught Revit in a classroom situation and grading the term assignment always felt like a real chore. My ideal class was 20 students who all wanted to just audit the course.

[mmason.65315]

I've used tools like the new Model Review for grading in limited situations in the past.
Out of curiousity, what would your criteria be for automated grading?

-Matt

[Haden]

I have been fooling with the Revit Model Review Add-in, and have reached a glitch in te results.

This is a simple example in which my first assignment is checked for the right quantity of walls, and the right quantity by each wall type. It works for the total, as well as 2 of the 4 wall types, but on the other 2 types, it counts one too many. There are 20 walls, 9 of which are 5 1/2", 9 are Brick, 1 is Plaster, and 1 is 7 1/2" For some reason, it comes up with 10 for the 5 1/2", and 2 for the Plaster. (I have run it on several simiilar students' files, used "Select all instances" to check it, and in all cases, this same erroneous result.

I am attaching the .bcf test file (which I had to add a .txt to the end in order to upload), as well as the purged revit project file I tested it on. If anyone out there is familiar with the Revit Model Review system, I would welcome some feedback on why this might be happening. (Factory -- is this a program glitch?)

[mmason.65315]

Haden,

It is a glitch - of a sort, I would say. You shouldn't be able to configure the Number of Elements check without explicitly picking one or more element types on the Details pane (or "All").

What is happening is that for the 5 1/2" and the Furring Plaster checks, there is no "Element Type" selected (so it is assuming "All" element types). This is causing both "Walls" and "WallTypes" to be reported (which messes with your count). You can see this on the "Items" tab in the report.

When I went back and edited the check file to specifically look for "Walls" only, I think it performed as you would expect.

Best Regards,
Matt Mason
Avatech Solutions

[Haden]

I am definitely making progress with my automated grading routines, but I still find the interface very user-unfriendly.

My latest problem is this: I am trying to identify how many doors have been properly placed of the correct type, in the correct wall type, at the correct level. (Thus, I can verify if the "front door" is correct.)

The attached test .rvt file and .bcf file shows that I can get these parameters checked separately, but when I add the check for level on top of the check for door type and wall type, the filter comes up empty with a sample size of 0. Any ideas? (Note: I had to rename the ".bcf" file to ".bcf.txt" to upload it as an attachment.) Thanks in advance for any help here.

[mmason.65315]

Haden,

That appears to be a limitation in the ModelReview 2010 build - that it does not handle filtering of parameters that are Element references (as opposed to text or number values).
It was addressed in a forthcoming build, and we're continuing to evaluate it.

Sorry,
Matt

[Haden]

... it does not handle filtering of parameters that are Element references (as opposed to text or number values).

The thing about it is, the check that I am doing which filters by both door type and the wall host type for the door is working, and the check which filters by level of the door is also working, but when I put all 3 into the same filter, it does not work. Unless I'm not understanding you quite right, it seems that it does filter by element references, but just not in certain combinations.

But I really do appreciate your help and expertise, Matt. As I mentioned in another thread, I see great potential for Model Review, certainly in the context of teaching and training, as well as many other applications.

[mmason.65315]

Haden,

The problem is that there's a slight difference in how the Parameter _Filter_ works from how the Parameter Requirements _Check_ works... The _Check_ was built specifically to check "ElementId" type parameters, but the filter (at the time we released 2010) was not.

We really do appreciate your feedback... It's nice to see people putting effort into making it work, and we'd like to see how to make it better.

-Matt

[carter.amelia9899811324]

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