TY - JOUR
T1 - The effects of second-chance testing on learning outcomes in a first-year STEM course in engineering
AU - Schmitz, Christopher D.
AU - Herman, Geoffrey L.
AU - Bretl, Timothy
N1 - Funding Information:
Timothy Bretl is an Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his B.S. in Engineering and B.A. in Mathematics from Swarthmore College in 1999, and his M.S. in 2000 and Ph.D. in 2005 both in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University. Subsequently, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Computer Science, also at Stanford University. He has been with the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Illinois since 2006, where he now serves as Associate Head for Undergraduate Programs. He holds an affiliate appointment in the Coordinated Science Laboratory, where he leads a research group that works on a diverse set of projects (http://bretl.csl.illinois.edu/). Dr. Bretl received the National Science Foundation Early Career Development Award in 2010. He has also received numerous awards for undergraduate teaching in the area of dynamics and control, including all three teaching awards given by the College of Engineering at Illinois (the Rose Award for Teaching Excellence, the Everitt Award for Teaching Excellence, and the Collins Award for Innovative Teaching).
PY - 2020/6/22
Y1 - 2020/6/22
N2 - Students entering college in an engineering discipline often struggle in their first semesters. While the reasons for their difficulties may vary, it is often the course assessments (quizzes and exams) that serve as the first “wake-up call.” Many under-performing students are suddenly convinced to reassess their approach to college-level studies. In our large (N > 400) first-year engineering course at the University of Illinois, we have decided to leverage this motivation in a timely manner. Each midterm exam assessment is immediately followed by an opportunity for mastery improvement. Successful completion of that exercise allows for a second-chance test to be taken. We have found that our variety of second-chance testing promotes student learning and improved mastery of the course learning objectives.In our study, we will look at the mode of mastery improvement exercises and methods for attracting students to these activities. We will discuss our methodology in second-chance testing while providing the rationale for our choices. We follow this with a statistical analysis of the assessment scores and demonstrate the desired effects of second-chance testing as witnessed on the final exam.
AB - Students entering college in an engineering discipline often struggle in their first semesters. While the reasons for their difficulties may vary, it is often the course assessments (quizzes and exams) that serve as the first “wake-up call.” Many under-performing students are suddenly convinced to reassess their approach to college-level studies. In our large (N > 400) first-year engineering course at the University of Illinois, we have decided to leverage this motivation in a timely manner. Each midterm exam assessment is immediately followed by an opportunity for mastery improvement. Successful completion of that exercise allows for a second-chance test to be taken. We have found that our variety of second-chance testing promotes student learning and improved mastery of the course learning objectives.In our study, we will look at the mode of mastery improvement exercises and methods for attracting students to these activities. We will discuss our methodology in second-chance testing while providing the rationale for our choices. We follow this with a statistical analysis of the assessment scores and demonstrate the desired effects of second-chance testing as witnessed on the final exam.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85095773879&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85095773879&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.18260/1-2--35313
DO - 10.18260/1-2--35313
M3 - Conference article
AN - SCOPUS:85095773879
SN - 2153-5965
VL - 2020-June
JO - ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings
JF - ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings
M1 - 1355
T2 - 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference, ASEE 2020
Y2 - 22 June 2020 through 26 June 2020
ER -