Abstract:

In higher education, many university professors believe that success rate relates to teaching methods and student attitude. However, additional factors can also influence the success rate. This study focuses on assessing the impact of unifying evaluation activities in the continuous assessment and their qualification criteria in first-year engineering courses. Throughout the past years, university courses have been designed independently from each other, as professors prepare evaluation tasks that they believe best suit their corresponding subject. In addition, different activities implemented in each subject have been adapted according to student feedback after course completion. This variety in evaluation activities and qualification criteria has caused added stress and, as a consequence, an unfavourable opinion of students regarding their studies. To reverse this situation, the first-year teaching staff decided to unify the evaluation system so that all subjects have been evaluated in the same way. All students are continuously assessed by a combination of tasks that include laboratory reports, homework activities and tests. Each task has the corresponding percentage over the final mark. This ensures an equitable workload for each subject. The unification of evaluation tasks allows for a better adaptation to the constant growing learning diversity, as it is a more organised and structured process that makes it easier to follow. Student perception indicates a more positive view on the organisation of university courses as a consequence of a higher student engagement in their learning experience. Preliminary results show a higher success rate in first-year subjects where the unification has been implemented. Higher student engagement in their learning experience has been perceived as a consequence of a more positive view on the organisation of university courses.

Keywords:

Higher education, assessment, student perception, professor perception.