TY - JOUR

T1 - Concepts for E-Assessments in STEM on the Example of Engineering Mechanics

T2 - How to Assess Complex EngineeringProblemsElectronically

AU - Orthaber, Markus

AU - Stütz, Dominik

AU - Antretter, Thomas

AU - Ebner, Martin

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2020 Kassel University Press GmbH.

PY - 2020/6/26

Y1 - 2020/6/26

N2 - We discuss if and how it is possible to develop meaningful e-assessments in Engineering Mechanics. The focus is on complex example problems, resembling traditional paper-pencil exams. Moreover, the switch to e-assessments should be as transparent as possible for the students, i.e., it shouldn’t lead to additional difficulties, while still maintaining sufficiently high discrimination indices for all questions. Example problems have been designed in such a way, that it is possible to account for a great variety of inputs ranging from graphical to numerical and algebraic as well as string input types. Thanks to the implementation of random variables it is even possible to create an individual set of initial values for every participant. Additionally, when dealing with complex example problems errors carried forward have to be taken into account. Different approaches to do so are detailed and discussed, e.g., pre-defined paths for sub-questions, usage of students’ previous inputs or decision trees. The main finding is that complex example problems in Engineering Mechanics can very well be used in e-assessments if the design of these questions is well structured into meaningful sub-questions and errors carried forward are accounted for.

AB - We discuss if and how it is possible to develop meaningful e-assessments in Engineering Mechanics. The focus is on complex example problems, resembling traditional paper-pencil exams. Moreover, the switch to e-assessments should be as transparent as possible for the students, i.e., it shouldn’t lead to additional difficulties, while still maintaining sufficiently high discrimination indices for all questions. Example problems have been designed in such a way, that it is possible to account for a great variety of inputs ranging from graphical to numerical and algebraic as well as string input types. Thanks to the implementation of random variables it is even possible to create an individual set of initial values for every participant. Additionally, when dealing with complex example problems errors carried forward have to be taken into account. Different approaches to do so are detailed and discussed, e.g., pre-defined paths for sub-questions, usage of students’ previous inputs or decision trees. The main finding is that complex example problems in Engineering Mechanics can very well be used in e-assessments if the design of these questions is well structured into meaningful sub-questions and errors carried forward are accounted for.

KW - Engineering Mechanics

KW - e-assessment

KW - STEM

KW - higher education

KW - complex problems

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85089032325&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3991/ijet.v15i12.13725

DO - 10.3991/ijet.v15i12.13725

M3 - Article

VL - 15.2020

SP - 136

EP - 152

JO - International journal emerging technologies in learning : iJET

JF - International journal emerging technologies in learning : iJET

SN - 1868-8799

IS - 12

ER -