Computer-assisted method based on continuous feedback to improve the academic achievements of engineering students

Abstract

This paper presents a computer-assisted method specifically designed to incorporate formative assessment into classroom practice. It is based on the following five key strategies. First, different written materials are provided to students to help clarify goals and success criteria. Second, students are involved in real-world engineering projects that are oriented to learning about project management. Thus, they adopt an active role during the learning process. Third, different types of feedback are implemented and provided several times during the project development in order to allow students to use the feedback to close their performance gap. Fourth, each student is assessed by all the other students of the project interacting with the student in question, i.e., peer-assessment is activated. Fifth, self-assessment is also considered. Data analysis from a specific academic course suggest that the proposed method has a positive impact on the academic achievements of engineering students.