Bias and Precision in Instructor Grading of Concept Inventories in Geotechnical Engineering Courses

Abstract

Jim received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Tufts University, along with a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the same institution. He specializes in geotechnical engineering, and his published work has included research on site response analyses, ground-motion prediction equations, uncertainty in earthquake engineering, and engineering education. At Merrimack, Jim has taught courses in geotechnical engineering, foundation engineering, earth retaining structures, earthquake engineering, engineering mechanics, and engineering probability and statistics.

Instruction and Assessment of Mohr’s Circle Concepts in Undergraduate Geotechnical Engineering Courses

“…The concept inventory assesses students' learning at various levels of Bloom's Taxonomy, with Question 2 focusing on more fundamental concepts, and Questions 1 and 3 requiring students to apply calculations. The questions on Mohr's circle were deliberately intended to be brief, because they were a component of a broader concept inventory on geotechnical engineering with nine other questions [1,2,17].…”

“…These findings further support the notion that a formative approach leads to better learning with respect to Mohr's circle. Question 3 (the calculation of the maximum shear stress given the principal stresses) was previously administered on a concept inventory with additional questions related to geotechnical engineering [1,2,17]. A total of n = 922 students at eight institutions completed this instrument over the course of eight years, from 2014 to 2021 (note that this question appeared as Question 10 on that broader instrument [1,2,17]).…”

“…Question 3 (the calculation of the maximum shear stress given the principal stresses) was previously administered on a concept inventory with additional questions related to geotechnical engineering [1,2,17]. A total of n = 922 students at eight institutions completed this instrument over the course of eight years, from 2014 to 2021 (note that this question appeared as Question 10 on that broader instrument [1,2,17]). Figure 6 illustrates the means of the Question 3 scores on the pre and post-test within the broader dataset.…”

Correlation Between the Course Knowledge Survey Results and Student Performance in a Civil Engineering Course

“…Instead of having open-ended questions, it is suggested to have multiple-choice format to make the process easy and have consistency while grading their responses. The bias and precision in grading could have resulted in an inaccurate evaluation of the assessment responses as proved recently by Ghanat et al (5) . More data could be included in the future and this study can be analyzed with similar approach in other institutions to see if there is a relationship between the concept inventory tests and student performance.…”