Computer assisted assessment through Moodle quizzes for calculus in an Engineering Undergraduate Course

Abstract

The European Higher Education Area (EHEA) furthers a student-centered system based on the student workload required to achieve the objectives of a study program. In the context of EHEA, e-learning tools provide an outstanding opportunity to discuss mathematical activity in the 21st-century classroom. In 2002, the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) undertook the use of a virtual teaching tool, the virtual campus Atenea. Since 2005 Atenea has been based on Moodle, an open source learning management system designed to help educators create quality online courses and administer learner outcomes. From the wide range of tools offered by Moodle, we are focusing on the quiz module. This module allows the creation of quizzes with different types of question, adapted to the specific objectives to be reached at any step in the teaching-learning process. Moodle quizzes contribute to the development of new strategies not feasible with paper-and-pencil tests. To explore how to apply these new strategies in the development of a substantial bank of quiz questions, we are carrying out projects subsidised by the Institute of Education Sciences of the UPC. This contribution focuses on the assessment of three Moodle quizzes for Calculus topics that were designed to be answered by around 70 first-year students of the School of Civil Engineering (UPC) in the course 2007/2008. In particular, the aims are to analyse students’ answers and to carry out a psychometric analysis to identify the appropriateness of the questions stated in the quizzes.