Student-designed assessments in electronic systems and signal processing courses

Saharnaz Baghdadchi; Theresa Meyerott; Paul Hadjipieris

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: ECE Division Technical Session 4: Student-centered Learning and Teaching Methodologies
Page Count: 18
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--40707
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/40707
Download Count: 285

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Paper Authors

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Saharnaz Baghdadchi University of California, San Diego

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Saharnaz Baghdadchi is an Assistant Teaching Professor at UC San Diego. She is interested in scholarly teaching and uses active learning techniques to help students achieve expert-like level of thinking. She guides students in bridging the gap between facts and usable knowledge to solve complex engineering problems.

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Theresa Meyerott University of California, San Diego

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Dr. Theresa Meyerott graduated from the University of California at San Diego with a B.S. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology, received a M.S. in Psychophysiology and Biofeedback from Alliant International University, and Ed.D. in Educational Leadership with an emphasis in Social Justice from the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) and California State University San Marcos (CSUSM). She holds a single subject teaching credential in science and health, a clear administrative services credential, professional development and special education law certifications. Dr. Meyerott is the Executive Director for The Alliance to Accelerate Excellence in Education at the California State University San Marcos. The Alliance is a regional collaboration between CSUSM and K-12 school districts focusing on a comprehensive pathway to college access and success. In addition, Theresa continues her enjoyment with teaching as a regular lecturer for the Joint Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership with both UCSD and CSUSM and teaches in the fully online MA.ED. at CSUSM. In addition, Dr. Meyerott is a Senior Associate for the Center for Culturally Proficient Educational Practice (CCPEP).

Over the past 23 years, Dr. Meyerott has held a variety of positions in public education ranging from community college director, classroom science teacher, district administrator and state accountability coordinator. Theresa is an achievement-focused K-16 administrator with a career focused on empowering teachers, staff, and students to succeed. A skilled leader of research-driven initiatives, including professional development, teacher training, special education, curriculum improvement, Local Control Funding Formula, Local Control Accountability Plan, Western Association of Schools and Colleges, Title 1, and other State and Federal programs to improve students’ educational development and academic success. Dr. Meyerott believes all students can learn with innovatively designed programs, curriculum, and instructional strategies implemented to accommodate the diversity of learners today. This successful learning environment can be achieved through high expectations, clear goals, and collaboration with students, educators, and community stakeholders.

In Theresa’s extra time she is a scuba diving instructor, volunteers with environmental education organizations, and serves as special education advocate.

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Paul Hadjipieris

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Abstract

Designing assessments that could improve student learning in addition to assessing their understanding of the course material is of great interest in many disciplines, including electrical and computer engineering. One such assessment method is requiring students to contribute to the design of their exam questions. The method established a closed-loop between learning the material and answering the exam questions by providing an opportunity to actively refine and deepen student learning while working on the exam questions to improve the exam score and hence improve mastery of the materials. This method is in sharp contrast to the traditional exams through which usually the learning process ends when students start the exam.

In this paper, we investigate an assessment type that could improve student learning in addition to assessing their understanding of the course material. Three variations of the student-designed assessments were implemented in signal processing and electronic systems courses at the University of California, San Diego. In the first variation, students created and solved student-generated questions each week of the course. In the subsequent two course variations, a comparison of treatment groups occurred between those participating in creating exam questions (group 1), those creating exam questions and peer reviewing (group 2), and those participating in neither activity (group 3/control). In each of the later two course variations, different requirements, level of difficulty, for the students in their design of the questions was implemented. The peer review process utilized an instructor-created rubric; students graded the submissions of three of their classmates and encouraged peer feedback. Anonymous end-of-term feedback surveys were used to seek students’ perceptions of the effect of this assessment method and the peer-review activity on their learning. The survey results showed most of the students found the students-designed assessments and the peer review activity helpful to their learning. There was no statistically significant difference between how helpful students found the peer-review activity in two different student-designed assessment variations. Students who participated in the assessment for which more guidance and restrictions on the selection of the assessment questions were provided found these assessments more helpful to their learning compared to students who participated in assessments with fewer restrictions. In addition, students who were given more restrictions on the student-designed assessments found the preparation of these assessments a more challenging task than the other students.

Citation
Format

Baghdadchi, S., & Meyerott, T., & Hadjipieris, P. (2022, August), Student-designed assessments in electronic systems and signal processing courses Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40707

TY - CPAPER
AB - Designing assessments that could improve student learning in addition to assessing their understanding of the course material is of great interest in many disciplines, including electrical and computer engineering. One such assessment method is requiring students to contribute to the design of their exam questions. The method established a closed-loop between learning the material and answering the exam questions by providing an opportunity to actively refine and deepen student learning while working on the exam questions to improve the exam score and hence improve mastery of the materials. This method is in sharp contrast to the traditional exams through which usually the learning process ends when students start the exam.

In this paper, we investigate an assessment type that could improve student learning in addition to assessing their understanding of the course material. Three variations of the student-designed assessments were implemented in signal processing and electronic systems courses at the University of California, San Diego. In the first variation, students created and solved student-generated questions each week of the course. In the subsequent two course variations, a comparison of treatment groups occurred between those participating in creating exam questions (group 1), those creating exam questions and peer reviewing (group 2), and those participating in neither activity (group 3/control). In each of the later two course variations, different requirements, level of difficulty, for the students in their design of the questions was implemented. The peer review process utilized an instructor-created rubric; students graded the submissions of three of their classmates and encouraged peer feedback. Anonymous end-of-term feedback surveys were used to seek students’ perceptions of the effect of this assessment method and the peer-review activity on their learning. The survey results showed most of the students found the students-designed assessments and the peer review activity helpful to their learning. There was no statistically significant difference between how helpful students found the peer-review activity in two different student-designed assessment variations. Students who participated in the assessment for which more guidance and restrictions on the selection of the assessment questions were provided found these assessments more helpful to their learning compared to students who participated in assessments with fewer restrictions. In addition, students who were given more restrictions on the student-designed assessments found the preparation of these assessments a more challenging task than the other students.
AU - Saharnaz Baghdadchi
AU - Theresa Meyerott
AU - Paul Hadjipieris
CY - Minneapolis, MN
DA - 2022/08/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Student-designed assessments in electronic systems and signal processing courses
UR - https://peer.asee.org/40707
DO - 10.18260/1-2--40707
ER -