Evaluating the undergraduate course based on a fuzzy ahp-fis model

Abstract

Course evaluation is a critical part of undergraduate curriculum in computer science. Most existing evaluation methods are based on questionnaire by analyzing the satisfaction rate of the respondents. However, there are many indicators such as attendance rate, activity level and average score that can reflect the overall effectiveness of the course. Limited research has taken all those indicators into account during course evaluation. This research chooses an innovative perspective that considers course evaluation as a multiple criteria decision-making problem. A hybrid model is proposed to measure the course effectiveness regarding various indicators. The indicators are first prioritized by a fuzzy Analytic Hierarchical Process (AHP) model which applies fuzzy numbers to deal with the uncertainty brought by subjective judgement. A hierarchical fuzzy inference system (FIS) is then designed to evaluate the course effectiveness, which reduces the number of the fuzzy IF-THEN rules and increases the efficiency compared to the traditional FIS. A numerical example is presented to demonstrate the application. The proposed model helps not only judge an individual course based on a comprehensive view but also rank multiple courses.