Chris Smaill

The implementation and evaluation of OASIS: a web-based learning and assessment tool for large classes

This paper describes a Web-based learning and assessment tool developed and implemented over a five-year period. Used predominately with first- and second-year students for skills practice and summative assessment, the tool delivers individualized tasks, marks student responses, supplies students with prompt feedback, and logs student activity. Interviews with instructors indicated that the software had enabled them to manage workloads in spite of rising class sizes and that student learning, based on observation and assessment results, had been enhanced rather than compromised. Student surveys, interviews, focus-group discussions, and informal feedback showed that students found the software easy to use and felt it helped them improve their skills and understanding. Student activity logs provided an insight into student study habits and confirmed the motivating power of assessment.

An Investigation Into the Understanding and Skills of First-Year Electrical Engineering Students

In response to demands from industry and the profession for more graduates, first-year engineering numbers have grown considerably over the last decade, matched by an increasing diversity of academic backgrounds. In order to support first-year students effectively, and ensure the courses they take remain appropriately pitched, the academic preparedness of these students must be determined. Since 2007, the lecturers in the compulsory first-year Electrical and Digital Systems course at the University of Auckland (UoA), Auckland, New Zealand, have administered a short diagnostic test to determine the level of conceptual understanding of electricity and electromagnetics possessed by the incoming students. This paper presents and discusses student understanding of dc circuit theory as revealed by the diagnostic test and subsequent investigations. The evidence is indicative of both flawed conceptual models and context-triggered misapplication of fundamental rules. Parallels are drawn with the results of research conducted elsewhere, indicating the misconceptions are robust and pervasive, crossing institutional and national boundaries. Not only are concepts such as current and voltage poorly understood, but even more basic concepts such as series and parallel connections are confusing for a significant number of students. Understanding the incorrect models that underlie these basic misconceptions is the first step to correcting them. Only then can students proceed to the more advanced concepts that engineering graduates are required to master.

The Implementation and Evaluation of a University-Based Outreach Laboratory Program in Electrical Engineering

In the current climate of shortages of high-quality engineering graduates, exacerbated by reduced high school enrollments in physics and mathematics, engineering faculties are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of K-12 outreach programs. Such programs can result in students being better prepared for and better informed about engineering careers, with a consequent increase in the number of engineering undergraduates. Almost all outreach programs described in the literature are school-based; by contrast, this paper describes a university-based program. The program was born out of a desire for a university department and a neighboring high school to forge closer links and a need for the high school to provide its students with certain laboratory experiences that would best be realized with the use of specialist equipment. The outreach program provides both formal laboratory experiences and informal presentations by graduate students of their research interests. Follow-up surveys showed that the high school students found the experiences both instructive and motivating, and their knowledge of and interest in electrical engineering increased significantly as a result. All final-year physics students from the high school took part in the 2007 outreach program, and 42% of these students subsequently enrolled in the Bachelor of Engineering degree at the university in 2008.

The Implementation and Evaluation of OASIS, a Web-Based Learning and Assessment Tool in Electrical Engineering

Worsening staff-student ratios make it harder to provide adequate assessment and prompt feedback, two quantities important in student learning. Computers and the Internet can provide a solution to this problem. This paper describes a Web-based tool used for skills practice and summative assessment. The tool delivers individualized tasks, marks student responses, supplies prompt feedback, and logs student activity. An action research program has been undertaken in order to develop the software and its implementation in ways that best support student learning. Instructors reported that the software had helped them manage workloads in spite of rising class sizes and that student learning had been enhanced rather than compromised. Student surveys, interviews, focus-group discussions and informal feedback showed that students found the software easy to use and felt it helped them improve their skills and understanding. Student activity logs provided some interesting insights into study habits and confirmed the motivating power of assessment