Continuous Engineering Course Improvement through Synergistic use of Multiple Assessment

During two terms of a fluid power engineering course, four formative and summative courseassessments, weekly e-mail feedback journals, midterm e-surveys, focus groups, and departmentalstudent evaluation of instruction (SEI) forms, were used to assess student perceptions of theirlearning and the instruction methods used. The weekly e-mail feedback journals and midterme-surveys enabled several course adjustments during each course term. Focus groups were used toexplore students’ perceptions of both the course and the formative assessments. The SEI providedquantitative measures of student satisfaction that correlated with the focus group discussions.Using multiple formative and summative course assessments techniques had a synergistic effect ongaining insights into the teaching-learning process.

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