Speaker
Description
Structural Analysis is a compulsory subject in the B.Sc. Programme Civil Engineering. It conveys fundamental concepts related to the design of structures, such as idealization of real-world structures as well as the calculation of internal forces and deformations due to given loading scenarios. Structural Analysis is typically assessed in a written exam and perceived as “difficult” by the majority of students. This is also reflected in high failure rates, which in turn correlates with relatively low attendance rates in class and insufficient participation in teaching and learning activities. In summary, a lack of understanding of fundamental concepts of engineering mechanics and an inability to transfer learned concepts to new exercise tasks is frequently observed. At the same time, competency-based examination is difficult, given cohorts as large as 200-300 students.
The above challenges have recently been addressed through the development of digital tutorial and examination tools within the scope of the project PITCH at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE). The project in general targets the development of digital examinations for a wide range of subjects considering aspects of equal opportunity and taking into account didactical, technical and legal aspects. With respect to Structural Analysis, our objective is two-fold. Firstly, we aim to increase students’ motivation and to encourage students to regularly participate in teaching and learning activities by providing weekly digital tutorial tasks, that are marked automatically. Secondly, we strive to develop digital exam tasks that facilitate fair and timely examination practises while maintaining the competency-based focus required in engineering disciplines.
To this end, the web-based automatic tutorial and exam system JACK of UDE is employed. It facilitates the use of various question types such as multiple choice or multi-stage with numerical input and it supports the development of randomized tasks. Another important aspect is the incorporation of problem- and response-specific feedback to support students’ learning. This contribution showcases some of the developed questions, summarizes the challenges encountered in the design of digital tutorial tasks for theoretical engineering subjects and presents the results of a first test run of weekly digital tutorial activities and a digital mock exam in winter semester 2024/25.
