NemoGB: An R Package for Calculating Course Grades

While the final grade at the end of a course is an elementary part of most college courses, the computations for these grades quickly become deceptively intricate, especially with larger STEM classes that use various complexities to accommodate a diverse student body. Even though most classes use slight variations of the same policies, many learning management systems (LMS) cannot sustain these complex computations. In response, instructors may turn to hard-coded scripts. These scripts can quickly accumulate hundreds of lines of code, and there is no clear method to assess accuracy of the final computation.

NemoGB is an R package that maintains the structure and complexity of a course grade while guaranteeing accuracy through comprehensive unit-testing. The challenges of consistency and precision in grading systems are addressed by applying the practices of data analysis and the principles of software development. The rigorous unit-testing in the package minimizes computational error and reduces the manual inputs, significantly lowering the risks of typographic and logical errors in scripts. Because of this, course grades can be computed accurately and quickly: the accuracy allows course instructors to have reliable grade computations, and the speed allows them to compute grades throughout the semester in order to monitor student progress.

Fun fact: The name “Nemo” comes from combining the first names of the two founding members of this product: myself, Nikita, and Monika.

Recommended citation: Jayaprakash et al., (2025). NemoGB: An R Package for Calculating Course Grades. Journal of Open Source Education, 8(94), 303, https://doi.org/10.21105/jose.00303.
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