This paper describes the development of continuous-time and discrete-time signals and systems concept inventory exams for undergraduate electrical engineering curricula. Both exams have twenty-five multiple choice questions to assess students' understanding of core concepts in these courses. The questions require little or no computation, and contain incorrect answers that capture common student misconceptions. The design of both exams is discussed, as are ongoing studies evaluating the exams at four campuses. Preliminary results from administering the continuous-time exam as a pre-test and post-test indicate a normalized gain of 0.24 ± 0.08 for traditional lecture courses, consistent with reported results for the Force Concept Inventory exam in lecture courses for freshman physics. 1
A quantitative assessment of undergraduate signals and systems students highlights several persistent misconcep tions, indicated by students choosing the same wrong an swer to a question before and after a signals and systems course. The assessment consists of administering the mul tiple choice Signals and Systems Concept Inventory as pre test and a post-test for the course. The SSCI data also show that students' conceptual understanding at the end of contin uous time courses is significantly correlated with their un derstanding at the start of a subsequent discrete time course, but not at the end of the discrete time course. Correlation of SSCI results with grades in prerequisite courses supports the notion that students learn signals and systems better when they have an adequate background in mathematics.
The evolution of technology enables educational institutions to provide innovative ways to support students' learning, and as a result, there is an increasing trend in adopting business innovations such as e-learning solutions and online learning platforms. An empirical study was conducted to explore the effect of using Moodle and Facebook on business students' motivation to learn. It hypothesized that students will be more motivated to use social media Facebook over Moodle as a learning tool in tertiary education. Participants were students enrolled on the first year of a business program. Participants were given access to both the Moodle online learning platform and Facebook to use throughout the first semester of 2017. Lecturers posted questions on Moodle and Facebook on a weekly basis to which participants were asked to provide responses. Findings from this study confirmed the validity of using social media in tertiary education. Implications for the business community engagement with educational institutions are discussed.
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