Abstract:

This paper describes the revision made in the last two semesters to the assessment of student learning outcomes in the senior level course EECE 4321 Automatic Control taught in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. This course is required in the degree plan for electrical engineering majors. Traditionally, homework assignments and quizzes were given during the semester, and a final exam is scheduled during the final examination week. The exams are used to assess student knowledge and understanding of course concepts and carry a large weighting. To pass the course, students tend to study for the exams even if they are not consistently engaged in the classroom during the semester. However, some educators argue that exams as mode of assessment may not be effective in mastering and retaining knowledge. Students often ask what topics are covered in the exam so they can focus only on those topics and often resort to memorization without fully understanding the concepts.

For the automatic control course, assignments and quizzes were given during the semester to assess students’ knowledge of the control systems concepts. However, the final exam was replaced with a group project-based assignment. The major motivation for this change is to ensure that students learn practical engineering applications of the concepts covered in the course. The group project-based assignment not only helps students develop their technical skills, but also their soft skills through communication, time management and teamwork.

In EECE 4321, teams of three students were formed and were given four weeks to complete the project. The project topic was the design of a control system for a prosthetic arm. Each student team was assigned a specific set of control design requirements. Students were challenged to design, simulate, and discuss the performance of their control systems using the concepts and simulation tools covered in the course. In addition to preparing a project report, each team was scheduled to give a presentation of their work to the rest of the class.

This paper reviews existing literature on assessments of learning outcomes in engineering education and describes the efforts made in the automatic course to replace final exams with group project-based assignments. The paper also describes student motivation and achievement and the lesson learned as an instructor teaching the automatic control course.

Keywords:

Engineering education, assessments, learning outcomes, project-based assessment.