DiBerardino, L., & Funke, L. (2022, August), The Effects of Assessment Method for Regular, Out-of-Class, Learning on Student Performance and Content Retention in a System Dynamics Course  Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41391

\bibitem{asee_peer_41391}
  DiBerardino, L., \& Funke, L. (2022, August), \emph{The Effects of Assessment Method for Regular, Out-of-Class, Learning on Student Performance and Content Retention in a System Dynamics Course}
  Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Minneapolis, MN.
  10.18260/1-2--41391

Louis DiBerardino and Lawrence Funke.  "The Effects of Assessment Method for Regular, Out-of-Class, Learning on Student Performance and Content Retention in a System Dynamics Course".  2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN, 2022, August.  ASEE Conferences, 2022.  https://peer.asee.org/41391 Internet.  14 Dec, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_41391}
  Louis DiBerardino and Lawrence Funke.
  "The Effects of Assessment Method for Regular, Out-of-Class, Learning on Student Performance and Content Retention in a System Dynamics Course".
  \emph{2022 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Minneapolis, MN, 2022, August}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2022.
  https://peer.asee.org/41391 Internet.  14 Dec, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_41391
author = "Louis DiBerardino and Lawrence Funke"
title = "The Effects of Assessment Method for Regular, Out-of-Class, Learning on Student Performance and Content Retention in a System Dynamics Course"
booktitle = "2022 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2022"
month = "August"
address = "Minneapolis, MN"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/41391}
number = {10.18260/1-2--41391}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - An ongoing question in the education literature is how to best incentivize students to take regular out-of-class practice on course material seriously so that they may reap the benefits of increased learning and content retention. The paper begins with a review of the relevant literature. While much literature exists for this broad topic, comparatively little was found looking at this specific combination of out-of-class practice and assessment techniques. Furthermore, this paper explores eight years of data allowing for a more quantitative and long-term approach to assessing the efficacy of these different modalities. Specifically, the research described herein seeks to quantify the effectiveness of three distinct assessment modalities of student, out-of-class work. 

This study is implemented in a system dynamics course for the entire cohort of junior mechanical engineering students at a small, private, undergraduate institution. Originally, weekly homework sets were assigned from the course text with credit given for correctness of work. It seemed that solution manuals were frequently being used, leading to the second modality explored herein, whereby students were “assigned” a weekly problem set, with solutions, that was not collected. Rather, assessment for each assignment was given via a quiz very similar to one of the assigned problems. After two years of using this method, a new approach was implemented in Fall of 2020 wherein a homework set is assigned without posted solutions, and is due the following week for a small portion of their overall quiz grade. Then, the solutions are posted and students are given two additional days to study for the quiz covering that assignment. The homework itself is only graded on completion effort, rather than correctness.

The progression of homework assignments and assessments just described leads to a natural research question: What approach to assessment of regular, out-of-class, learning best fosters student understanding, scores, and content retention in a core engineering course? The hypothesis that homework graded for completion along with a quiz assessment will improve student performance and content retention as compared to only assessment of weekly homework, as well as compared to uncollected homework plus weekly quiz is investigated. Specifically, student performance is assessed via exam grades, factored by incoming GPA. The efficacy of this assessment, despite it spanning eight years of data, is retained because course structure and exam content were consistent in all offerings, as the same instructor coordinated the course. Content retention is assessed via postrequisite course grades, as available, factored by incoming GPA.
AU  - Louis DiBerardino
AU  - Lawrence Funke
CY  - Minneapolis, MN
DA  - 2022/08/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - The Effects of Assessment Method for Regular, Out-of-Class, Learning on Student Performance and Content Retention in a System Dynamics Course
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/41391
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--41391
ER  -