Thomaz Edson Veloso da Silva

Evaluating the students' perception of the teaching effectiveness in a teleinformatics engineering

This paper intends to present a case of computer-aided statistical analysis of teaching effectiveness in an engineering course. Due to the large amount of data generated, the computer aid becomes essential for the correct handling of data. Ratings are extremely important to the improvement of educational institutions. This study aims to provide feedback to teachers of the course that have been evaluated using the point of view of students. This research was conducted using a questionnaire, which was applied to students who had already completed the first year of the teleinformatics engineering course. The instrument allow us to observe data that, clearly indicates certain subjective characteristics. The automation of the analysis process is a crucial step in the interpretation of the results. Our results deserve consideration for the improvement of teaching in an engineering course.

Avaliando o Desempenho Discente em um AVA: Um Estudo de Caso Utilizando Estat´ıstica Multivariada

Este artigo apresenta um modelo para aplicacao de tecnicas de mineracao em dados coletados a partir de avaliacoes da aprendizagem. A partir da proposta, torna-se possivel identificar quais conteudos e em que niveis cognitivos eles foram assimilados pelos aprendizes, permitindo, assim, que estrategicas pedagogicas sejam adequadamente planejadas para grupos de estudantes que apresentem as dificuldades identificadas. Para validar o estudo, sao apresentados tambem os resultados do experimento realizado numa disciplina de Programacao do curso de Licenciatura em Computacao da Universidade de Pernambuco.

Peer instruction methodology for linear algebra subject: A case study in an engineering course

While the initial course in linear algebra plays a decisive role in an engineers basic formation, it is often marked by high rates of student failure and dropout and thus constitutes an important issue in the field of engineering education. The present study aims to enhance the teaching and learning processes in the first phase of linear algebra in engineering curriculum, viz., matrices, systems of linear equations, notions of vectors, and line and plane equations. To address this end, a methodological teaching proposal, Peer Instruction (PI), is proposed to improve student comprehension, classroom interaction, cooperation among peers, and assimilation of fundamental concepts. The PI method was applied in the initial phase of a linear algebra course in the undergraduate Chemical Engineering program at the Federal University of Ceará, Brazil. To measure student prior knowledge, a conceptual pre-test was conducted. Subsequently, eleven 2-hour classes were taught using PI, and a final exam was then conducted. Comparison of pre-and post-test results shows significant increase in student performance. The incremental increase in student-teacher and student-student interactions played a significant role in methodologys success.

A mixed pedagogical method to improve teaching and learning in Brazilian computing area undergraduate courses

In this paper, we present an innovative mixed pedagogical method to improve teaching and learning in undergraduate courses related to computer area. The method proposes learning multi-criteria assessments and pedagogical strategies, such as problem-based learning, that should be carried out during the activities. This research was performed in a three-year case study in courses undertaken at the Federal University of Ceará (UFC), Brazil. The main contribution of this work is the mixed pedagogical method that uses the combination of important pedagogical strategies, with promising results. There was observed an improvement in student results and professor evaluations in four of the five cases. In these four courses, researchers used the method with all requirements being met.

Developing an Instrument for Assessment of Academic Management in Engineering Courses

Higher education in Brazil been expanding in recent years, although, one of the major problems encountered have been the evasion and failure rates in general courses and specifically in engineering undergraduate courses. In this context, educational evaluation, with the goal of diagnosing needs for improvement, can contribute to the quality of higher education, regarding some aspects such as teaching methodology, human interrelationships in the teaching profession and academic management, among others. This study is based on the analysis of the development and subsequent implementation of an assessment tool that would enable the analysis of academic and administrative expertise of academic management. The instrument consists of a list of 15 statements related to aspects of higher education management, where the target audience of the research are the teachers of 6 engineering courses at Federal University of Ceara (UFC), indicating their degree of agreement with the statements. For the analysis, a multivariate statistical tool called Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used. The results show the feasibility of PCA to analyze aspects of academic management, by explaining relevant information extracted from the latent variables of the data, which allowed us to identify a group of clusters related to management of higher education in engineering within the UFC. The study points to the use of this information in the future related to the contents of external assessments through more robust and detailed mathematical analysis tools.

QEOn Questionnaire for Assessing Experiences in Virtual Learning Environments

This work aims to validate a quality assessment tool for online courses. The validation of the Online Education Quality questionnaire was performed by the Exploratory Factor Analysis to obtain possible groupings of statements that have similar statistical patterns. In total, 471 teachers responded the request to participate in the survey. Were used, as construct validation criteria, the KMO and Bartllet tests, and also the reliability test of generated clusters (Cronbachs alpha). Five components were extracted, explaining ~ 69% of the total data variance. With the extraction of these components may be considered so that the instrument is capable of generating five indicators related to quality of online education.

The Context and Outcomes of Learning in Educational Evaluation An Engineering Course

This paper presents research on educational assessment that takes into account the relationship between the context of learning and the performance obtained by stu-before in areas of knowledge of an undergraduate degree in engineering. For data analysis, the mathematical technique called multivariate PCA was used. The results indicate that in most areas of technological knowledge and professional practice, the enthusiasm and the dynamism of the teacher can facilitate student learning, however, in more scientific and theoretical areas, assessments and activities may not be suitable and favor the occurrence dropout and retention.