The accuracy of self-assessment in engineering mechanics

Amie Baisley; Keith Hjelmstad; Efhalia Chatziefstratiou

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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: Assessment in Mechanics Courses
Page Count: 16
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--40837
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/40837
Download Count: 436

Paper Authors

biography

Amie Baisley University of Florida

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I have a Ph.D. in engineering education from Utah State University and a M.S. in structural engineering from Arizona State University. My teaching and research interests are centered around the second year mechanics courses and how changes in those courses can impact student learning and persistence.

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Keith Hjelmstad Arizona State University

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Keith D. Hjelmstad is President's Professor of Engineering at Arizona State University and chair of the civil engineering program. He is founder and architect of The Mechanics Project, an effort to improve teaching and learning in undergraduate mechanics courses. He is the author of the book Fundamentals of Structural Mechanics (Springer 2005) and the recently published book Fundamentals of Structural Dynamics: Theory and Computation (Springer 2022).

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Efhalia Chatziefstratiou Arizona State University

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Abstract

The ability to reflect on one’s own learning is a critical skill for students to have but courses rarely offer dedicated time to develop that skill. The use of self-assessment, where the student assesses their own work, can help them to develop this metacognitive skill. It also aids the process of providing formative feedback as it drives the students to reflect on their performance by comparing their work to the instructor’s solution Through this process, they gain insight and timely feedback on their mistakes and how to avoid them on the next assessment. In fact, the genesis of the self-assessment process we employ was motivated by the observation that many students would refuse to look at the detailed solution to the exam problem because they “didn’t want to see how bad they did.” Self-assessment also holds the potential to lessen the grading burden for the instructor. The study described in this paper looks at the accuracy of student self-assessments in three mechanics courses (Statics, Dynamics, and Deformable Solids). The students were asked to grade their own assessments using a rubric (the same one used by the grader) comparing their work to the instructor’s solution. To motivate accurate assessment, students are granted engagement points for objectives where their grade matches the instructor’s grade. Thus, the best strategy is to seek alignment with the instructor and not to inflate or deflate their self-measure of success. This information is fed back to the students through the semester, giving them the opportunity to refine their self-assessment strategy. The scores that students have provided are compared to the instructor’s grade to assess the accuracy of self-assessment. We have found that the students matched the instructor-determined grades less than 50% of the time, demonstrating that self-assessment is not an accurate alternative for grading high stakes exams. The final grades were higher for students who completed the self-assessment exercises as compared to students who elected not to do self-assessments, suggesting that either the students who are taking the time to reflect are learning and performing better, or the already academically high achieving students are the ones most likely to complete the self-assessments.

Citation
Format

Baisley, A., & Hjelmstad, K., & Chatziefstratiou, E. (2022, August), The accuracy of self-assessment in engineering mechanics Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40837

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - The ability to reflect on one’s own learning is a critical skill for students to have but courses rarely offer dedicated time to develop that skill. The use of self-assessment, where the student assesses their own work, can help them to develop this metacognitive skill. It also aids the process of providing formative feedback as it drives the students to reflect on their performance by comparing their work to the instructor’s solution Through this process, they gain insight and timely feedback on their mistakes and how to avoid them on the next assessment. In fact, the genesis of the self-assessment process we employ was motivated by the observation that many students would refuse to look at the detailed solution to the exam problem because they “didn’t want to see how bad they did.” Self-assessment also holds the potential to lessen the grading burden for the instructor. The study described in this paper looks at the accuracy of student self-assessments in three mechanics courses (Statics, Dynamics, and Deformable Solids). The students were asked to grade their own assessments using a rubric (the same one used by the grader) comparing their work to the instructor’s solution. To motivate accurate assessment, students are granted engagement points for objectives where their grade matches the instructor’s grade. Thus, the best strategy is to seek alignment with the instructor and not to inflate or deflate their self-measure of success. This information is fed back to the students through the semester, giving them the opportunity to refine their self-assessment strategy. The scores that students have provided are compared to the instructor’s grade to assess the accuracy of self-assessment. We have found that the students matched the instructor-determined grades less than 50% of the time, demonstrating that self-assessment is not an accurate alternative for grading high stakes exams. The final grades were higher for students who completed the self-assessment exercises as compared to students who elected not to do self-assessments, suggesting that either the students who are taking the time to reflect are learning and performing better, or the already academically high achieving students are the ones most likely to complete the self-assessments.
AU  - Amie Baisley
AU  - Keith Hjelmstad
AU  - Efhalia Chatziefstratiou
CY  - Minneapolis, MN
DA  - 2022/08/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - The accuracy of self-assessment in engineering mechanics
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/40837
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--40837
ER  -