Core skills assessment to improve mathematical competency
Carr, Michael, Bowe, Brian and Ní Fhloinn, EabhnatORCID: 0000-0002-3840-2115
(2013)
Core skills assessment to improve mathematical competency.
European Journal of Engineering Education, 38
(6).
pp. 608-619.
ISSN 0304-3797
Many engineering undergraduates begin third-level education with significant deficiencies in their core mathematical skills. Every year, in the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), a diagnostic test is given to incoming first-year students, consistently revealing problems in basic mathematics. It is difficult to motivate students to address these problems; instead, they struggle through their degree, carrying a serious handicap of poor core mathematical skills, as confirmed by exploratory testing of final year students.
In order to improve these skills, a pilot project was set up in which a “module” in core mathematics was developed. The course material was basic, but 90% or higher was required to pass. Students were allowed to repeat this module throughout the year by completing an automated examination on WebCT populated by a question-bank. Subsequent to the success of this pilot with third-year mechanical engineering students, the project was extended to five different engineering programmes, across three different year-groups. Full results and analysis of this project are presented, including responses to interviews carried out with a selection of the students involved.