Internet and classroom-based automated evaluation systems

Abstract

Many novel tools and techniques have been developed to enhance classroom teaching and learning. However, compared to the volume of material available for teaching enhancement, very little is available in the area of student assessment, especially automated student evaluations. Due to the nature of the subject content, engineering and its related fields are arguably the most difficult disciplines within which to utilize automated evaluation. Until recently, just a few small-scale evaluation tools were available, primarily from those individuals who developed them for their own courses. Currently however, several automated evaluation tools are available that are adaptable to various engineering applications. The most familiar of these are Blackboard and Web-CT, both of which are Internet-based evaluation, curriculum and course management tools. A more recent automated evaluation tool has become available; know as a Classroom Response System (CRS) or Classroom Performance System. The CRS is a classroom based wireless-remote transmitter-receiver system. All students in a classroom have their own wireless transmitters that are used during class sessions to transmit information to the classroom-based CRS receiver. The CRS then evaluates and tabulates the student responses, and provides immediate feedback to the instructor and/or students from the system. This type of system is very useful as a classroom-based automated evaluation system. While the concept of evaluation typically implies testing, the CRS may additionally be used to gather and analyze other types of student responses as they occur within the classroom. Because Internet-based systems such as Blackboard have become so common, this paper will emphasize the newer, and less widespread, CRS systems. The paper begins with a review of the purpose of CRS systems, followed by a review of students' attitudes toward using CRS systems in the classroom. Included in the paper is a description of implementing the CRS in a classroom, a review of the automated evaluation system, and a description of other features of the system. This paper also includes a side-by-side review of the classroom-based CRS in comparison to the Internet based Blackboard system, describing the advantages and disadvantages of both systems.