Zhao, Y. (2018, March), Impact of Oral Exams on a Thermodynamics Course Performance  Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Zone IV Conference, Boulder, Colorado. 10.18260/1-2--29617

\bibitem{asee_peer_29617}
  Zhao, Y. (2018, March), \emph{Impact of Oral Exams on a Thermodynamics Course Performance}
  Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Zone IV Conference, Boulder, Colorado.
  10.18260/1-2--29617

Yitong Zhao.  "Impact of Oral Exams on a Thermodynamics Course Performance".  2018 ASEE Zone IV Conference, Boulder, Colorado, 2018, March.  ASEE Conferences, 2018.  https://peer.asee.org/29617 Internet.  22 Apr, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_29617}
  Yitong Zhao.
  "Impact of Oral Exams on a Thermodynamics Course Performance".
  \emph{2018 ASEE Zone IV Conference, Boulder, Colorado, 2018, March}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2018.
  https://peer.asee.org/29617 Internet.  22 Apr, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_29617
author = "Yitong Zhao"
title = "Impact of Oral Exams on a Thermodynamics Course Performance"
booktitle = "2018 ASEE Zone IV Conference"
year = "2018"
month = "March"
address = "Boulder, Colorado"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/29617}
number = {10.18260/1-2--29617}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Oral exams are more commonly used in graduate level courses, as the exams usually demand in-depth preparation and different skills other than written test, and they usually provide valuable practice for future professional activity. Yet oral exams can also be beneficial to lower division undergraduate students, since oral exams can provide instructors direct and dialogic feedback, and provide an excellent opportunity to immediately diagnose and correct any major misconception. 
In this pilot study in Spring 2017, the author introduced oral exams into a junior level mechanical engineering course--"ME 301: Thermodynamics I"—at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona). Thermodynamics is a major bottleneck in many mechanical engineering programs. It is taken by third-year mechanical engineering and civil engineering students, and is characterized by high enrollment and high-repeat rates. 
Oral exams were introduced to the students after midterm during the quarter. In the oral test, students were given a problem of similar difficulty as examples in class. The students need to work out the steps to the final answers without necessarily calculating any numbers within 8 min. Students’ performance was graded for receiving some extra credits towards their final grades. Regular exam scores and overall course grades were collected to compare between students who took oral exams (Group A) and those who did not (Group B), while student perceptions of the course were also examined using surveys. 40 out of 76 students (52.6%) participated in this oral exam. While the midterm exam showed that students from Group A performed slightly better than Group B students on average, the difference was not statistically significant (t-test >5%). In the final exam, however, students from Group A surpassed Group B students with average score of 46.9 compared with 28.2, and the results were significantly noticeable. As to the overall grade, only 2 out of the 40 students in Group A (5%) received a D/F rate, while 19 out of 36 students in Group B (54.3%) received a D/F rate. And the average grade of Group A was a B-, yet the average grade of Group B was only a D+. From the limited numbers of survey response, 16 students from Group A responded, while only 2 students from Group B responded. And Group A students tended to feel the class more friendly, supportive, and their effort was appreciated. 
The results from this preliminary study suggest that the adoption of oral exams has the potential to positively impact students’ performance in the thermodynamics course. 

AU  - Yitong Zhao
CY  - Boulder, Colorado
DA  - 2018/03/25
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Impact of Oral Exams on a Thermodynamics Course Performance
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/29617
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--29617
ER  -