A computer based assessment system for undergraduate electrical engineering modules
Abstract
Good assessment is an essential component of good learning. Marking test and exam papers
for large classes is however a time-consuming and repetitive task. This paper reports on the design and
implementation of a computer based assessment (CBA) system suitable for undergraduate engineering
modules. This prototype CBA system is capable of automatically grading relatively open-ended
analysis and design problems and is also relatively user friendly. This CBA system consists of two
separate subsystems, namely a test delivery subsystem and an automatic grading subsystem (which
is the contribution of this paper). Automatic grading of the student answer papers is performed in
Matlab
r
. The grading subsystem can automatically grade typed student answers containing symbolic
mathematical expressions as well as numeric answers. Grading is performed accurately, consistently
and very fast compared to a human lecturer. Students are given partial credit for partially correct answers
and feedback is given in a very intuitive form quite close to the traditional manner in a pen-and-paper
test. The system has been successfully used to take final exams in a second year engineering module on
basic circuit analysis
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10394/20475http://cdn.entelectonline.co.za/wm-418498-cmsimages/Computerbased2013Vol104No4.pdf
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