How to Improve Learning in Biomedical Engineering Students from an Integrated and Formative Evaluation

Abstract

Traditional evaluations of knowledge in engineering education usually focus on the assessments gathered by the teacher from different sources such as exams, essays and laboratory reports. However, this is a single actor’s point of view of a learning process: the teacher. The self-evaluation and feedback provided by classmates may also represent an important and useful contribution in at student’s learning process. This paper presents an integrated evaluation strategy that includes four equally important components: teacher evaluation, self-evaluation, peer evaluation and group work evaluation. A pilot study was carried out with 20 students taken the Biophysics 1 course offered by the Universidad del Rosario’s biomedical engineering program. Results reveal different performances within the groups, allowing the detection of cases where students showed difficulties. Furthermore, it demonstrates the importance of self-criticism and how to positively influence the learning process of others.