Using Online Testing for Engineering Studies

Figures & data

Table 1 Marks for online tests from 2009–2010 to 2012–2013.

Year	2009–2010	2010–2011	2011–2012	2012–2013
Marks	Test 3	Test 1	Test 3	Test 1	Test 3	Test 1	Test 3
0–20*	15	2	5	7	3	4	7
21–40	17	1	7	12	2	0	0
41–60	11	1	2	14	6	5	0
61–80	11	2	5	18	14	10	1
81–100	9	29	16	5	31	15	26
Total	63	35	35	56	56	34	34

Table 2 Marks for other tests in 2009–2010.

Year 2009–2010	Test 1	Test 2	Test 4	Course 1^a	Course 2^b
0–20	16	11	17	15	16
21–40	10	9	12	23	2
41–60	15	14	17	18	31
61–80	13	13	11	7	14
81–100	9	16	6	0	0
Total	63	63	63	63	63

^aCourse 1 is a written coursework on fluid mechanics in the form of interpreting laboratory data.

^bCourse 2 is a written essay on thermodynamics.

Table 3 Marks for other tests in 2010–2011.

Year 2010–2011	Test 2	Test 4	Course 1	Course 2
0–20	3	6	1	4
21–40	5	9	7	7
41–60	6	9	20	17
61–80	9	6	5	5
81–100	10	3	0	0
Total	33	33	33	33

Table 4 Marks for other tests in 2011–2012.

Year 2011–2012	Test 2	Test 4	Course 1	Course 2
0–20	6	13	2	5
21–40	12	13	3	8
41–60	13	12	23	35
61–80	18	9	22	6
81–100	6	8	5	1
Total	55	55	55	55

Table 5 Marks for other tests in 2012–2013.

Year 2012–2013	Test 2	Test 4	Course 1	Course 2
0–20	2	3	2	2
21–40	3	5	9	10
41–60	4	12	19	18
61–80	12	10	1	1
81–100	10	1	0	0
Total	31	31	31	31

Table 6 The 2009–2010 student feedback survey.

Question	Yes	No	Undecided	Comments
1. Did you find the test easy to navigate?	26	4
2. What would make it easier to navigate? Please specify				If Qs continued on each page (1)	List of Qs on first page to allow selection of which to attempt first to prevent rushing/loss of marks at end (3)	Repeating Q every page (5)	Being able to move between Qs (1)	Could not sit test as thrown out and could not re-enter (1)
3. Did you get enough feedback on your answer?	5	24
4. If you answered no to Q3 above, what would you like to have?
a. More detail of solution	18
b. Link to a solution	17
c. Other	1			Left answer blank and was shut out of test – no feedback (1)	More Qs with sections with fewer marks. One Q was 25 marks and if wrong was a large loss of marks (3)	Credit for working (1)	Units can affect if answer right or wrong – units should be specified (3)
5. Do you like doing class tests this way?	14	14	2	Tried to log in but could not	No – easier when a test is on paper to refer back to Q	Yes – enjoyed doing it in own time (1)	Open book good (4)

Table 7 The 2012–2013 student feedback survey.

Question	Yes	No	Undecided	Comments
1. Did you find the test easy to navigate?	19	0
2. What would make it easier to navigate? Please specify			1	Better layout of questions (4)	Individual question pages (1)			Could not sit test as thrown out and could not re-enter (3)
3. Did you get enough feedback on your answer?	5	15
4. If you answered no to Q3 above, what would you like to have?
a. More detail of solution	5
b. Link to a solution	10
c. Other	1			A worked example – how to do test explanation (3)		Credit for working (1)
5. Do you like doing class tests this way?	9	12		Test crashed/closed (3)	No – easier when a test is on paper to refer back to Q (2)	Hand-outs easier to do (2)	Easier to make mistakes online and under time limit (2)	Dummy test needs to be relevant to actual test (1)
				Answer rounding can affect mark (1)	More Qs with sections with fewer marks. One Q was 25 marks and if wrong was a large loss of marks (1)

Table 8 Smoothed out module pass rates since the online testing has been in place.

Session	Students registered	Passed 1st diet	Passed 2nd diet	Passed total	Mean mark	Standard deviation	% Total passed
2012–2013	31	27			63%	7%	86
2011–2012	55	46	2	48	54%	14%	87
2010–2011	35	28	0	28	40%	20%	80
2009–2010	63	44	4	48	43%	25%	76

Table 9 Part-time (PT) versus full-time (FT) overall first diet percentage at level (no data for 2009–2010).

Level	2010–2011	2011–2012	2012–2013
PT	FT	PT	FT	PT	FT
0–20		7		2
21–40	25	10	14	16
41–60		40	57	47	67	26
61–80	75	43	29	35	33	74
81–100