Abstract:

In this paper we propose and evaluate a self-assessment module for the students of the course "Automata and Discrete Mathematics" belonging to the "Degree in Computer Engineering in Information Technology" of the University of Oviedo. This project aims to incorporate innovative learning technologies that will improve the education process, strengthen the virtual teaching as a complement to the in-person teaching, and enhance the autonomy of the students.

A self-assessment module allows the students to check if they are prepared to take the theoretical exams and also to refine their knowledge in the subject. Moreover, it is also useful to professors, as they should be able to monitor the evolution of the students, discover the most problematic topics for them, and even offer personalized feedback.

The module consists on a series of online exams, with a total of 95 questions that touch every topic of the course. These exams are created with the support of the Virtual Campus of the University of Oviedo, which is a Moodle based platform. Several days before each theoretical exam, we provided the students with the self-assessment module of the corresponding topics, and they could solve them at any time. All the questions include feedback, so that students can know instantly if their answer is correct, or why it is incorrect. Therefore the module is also useful to refine the knowledge of the students. The marks obtained in these exams are not taken into account for the evaluation of the course.

We evaluated our proposal using indicators such as the percentage of students who used the module, or the results of a satisfaction survey conducted at the end of the academic year. The project was a success, because most students have used it during the course. In fact, every student with a mark of seven or higher used the module at least once. Additionally, the survey shows that the students considered the module important in their learning process: 71% of them indicated that the self-assessment module was really useful or essential. Some even found the module more useful than the theoretical in-person lectures. As a negative aspect, it was generally difficult for the lecturers to monitor the evolution of the students or offer them personalized feedback, because many of them used the module only one or two days before each exam.

The conclusion we get from this experience is that a self-assessment module is a very interesting tool for both the students and the professors. Therefore, during the next academic year we plan to keep using the module and we also plan to create more self-assessment modules for other courses, for example “Computability Theory”.

Keywords:

Innovation, Self-assessment, Virtual education, Academic experiences.