New Perspectives in Science Education

Assessment methods in education have evolved over the years and currently, the use of technology must be part of these processes. This paper describes the use of the digitization of educational assessment in two engineering courses at our university: one via the Zoom platform and the other an in-person course, where besides evaluating students’ knowledge, the objective was to help them develop specific competencies. The second-semester “Statistical Analysis” engineering course provides the basic concepts of regression analysis and time series. In particular, one class experiences a flexible, digital ELITE modality, which leverages synchronous web conferences via the Zoom platform and extensive interaction through the Canvas Learning Management System (LMS). About 100 enrolled students from several of the university’s campuses take the course, which is led by a renowned professor of the institution who is supported by a team of distinguished tutor professors on various university campuses. On the other hand, “Process Modeling Using Linear Algebra”, is a third-semester engineering course covering the concepts  of vector space, eigenvalues, orthogonality and linear transformations. The digitization of assessment utilizes Canvas LMS as well, and the WebAssing platform, which is specially designed for STEM courses. Both courses utilize digital assessments to provide continuous and real-time feedback, enhance accessibility for students, track student performance over time and reduce administrative burdens on professors. In addition, with the use of technology, students can have multiple submissions of the activities and can correct their errors in real time, which helps them gain better understanding of the topics and improve the teaching-learning process.