Enhancing Automated Assessment for Engineering MOOCs

Abstract

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have the potential to free up learners from the bounds of time and space. Considering the likelihood of large numbers of students enrolling in a MOOC, the ability to create large numbers of test question and answers is highly desirable. In this paper, we present a set of algorithms for automatically creating questions for different courses in electrical/computer engineering (ECE). We have implemented the algorithms in a common scripting language. We have included examples of test questions for two different ECE courses. However, the presented methodology can be applied to many other courses. An advantage of our methodology is that it eliminates the need for the purchase and maintenance of a commercial design-software package.

A tool for facilitating the automated assessment of engineering/science courses

“…The algorithms can be coded in any web-friendly language, such as, Java, Perl, PHP, Python, etc. The algorithms serve these core functions 47 (see Appendix A): Creating a random Boolean equation Representing the Boolean equation in reverse polish notation (RPN) Creating Verilog code from the RPN Drawing a logic diagram representing the Verilog code …”

“…The algorithms can be coded in any webfriendly language, such as, Java, Perl, PHP, Python, etc. The algorithms serve these core functions 47 The creation of random Boolean equations is constrained by a set of userspecified parameters. The user can specify the complexity of a logic function/circuit in terms of number of input variables, number of logic gates, and number of layers/ levels.…”