Abstract:

During the last five years, the authors have been analyzing the terminal efficiency of students in the first courses of mathematics for engineering at the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana Unidad Azcapotzalco, as well as the performance of these students in each of the subjects: pre-calculus, differential calculus, integral calculus, and differential equations.

The results have been disappointing: less than half of the enrolled students pass their course. It has been seen that the change made in 2008 to the study plans by including a remedial subject at the beginning of the ten engineering careers that are taught, to correct deficiencies in basic mathematics training, did not meet the objective that was intended, and it was recently discarded, in large part, because it became another major obstacle in the students' academic trajectory.

On the other hand, the time it takes for students to complete the chain of subjects in the common core of engineering has been longer than expected, putting the completion of their studies at risk. It has been seen that the time that some students dedicate to trying unsuccessfully to accredit mathematics subjects and others that mark the end of the block of compulsory subjects is very large.

In a previous study, it was concluded that only a third of the new students in each cohort managed to complete the compulsory block of subjects in the scheduled time, four quarters.

In February 2019, a strike broke out at the university that paralyzed activities for more than three months, affecting the life project of the students who were enrolled. The school calendar of the university was adjusted. The last activities that took place in person at the university occurred until the third week, with the final exams in the fall quarter of 2019, which was delayed due to the strike.

On Monday, March 23, 2020, the contingency period for COVID19 began in Mexico City. The exams that were scheduled for that date changed for the first week of May, when the university announced the restart of activities, this time remotely.

The university decided to record only passing grades and not consider the number of failed attempts to accredit a subject, which could affect the academic history of each student as a measure to mitigate student stress.

After more than a year of activities in this modality, still under the threat of the pandemic, the analysis of the school results was carried out, with surprising findings in the performance of the students.

In this work, a description is made of how the learning evaluation process had been approached in the face-to-face format in the engineering courses of the campus and how it has been faced in the current conditions.

Keywords:

Assessment, Distance Learning, achievement, terminal efficiency.