Tools for simultaneous online and in‐person teaching in a Linear Circuit Analysis subject

Abstract

During the first semester of 2020-2021, classes for Linear Circuit Analysis subjects (Mechanical Engineering Degree, Miguel Hernandez University of Elche, Spain) were taught in a dual way because of the COVID-19 pandemic: students were able to attend in-person or online, as long as the in-person attendance limit was not surpassed. The same strategy was used for exams: each student decided whether to take the exam in-person or online. Specific software tools were used for the in-advance seat reservation and simultaneous online and in-person class attendance, and examination tools and strategies, with a special emphasis on avoiding online cheating. Online attendance was preferred by students (averaging 64.9% of global attendance for lectures and 84.5% for exams), with abrupt increases during the worst episodes of the pandemic. Video recordings of the lectures were made available to all of the students, with the most viewed video being accessed over 200 times. Concerning evaluation, no statistically significant differences were found between in-person or online average examination marks (p = .133), which may be an indicator of low online cheating. Student feedback showed their satisfaction with the dual teaching strategy, despite their initial doubts at the beginning of the course.

EVERSYS: Efficient exam versioning tool for linear circuits and other problem‐based subjects

“…An additional functionality that we plan to add to the EVERSYS tool is automatic result comparison, to detect possible copies between students, particularly when they are coincident but both wrong. The only requirement for automation is that students should upload their results, even in paper-based exams, as proposed in Fernández & Vicente [7].…”

“…Compared with the approaches presented in Rusak & Yan [22] and Fernández & Vicente [7], where numeric data vary among versions, but the exam skeleton is the same in all cases, the present study proposes a more flexible system in which the exam skeleton, numeric data, and even question sets can vary among versions. Although it was developed for the subject of linear circuits, its applicability to other subjects was considered.…”

“…A different approach for exam versioning is to use the same exam skeleton for all versions but randomly vary the numeric data between versions. Such an approach can be found in the proposals of Rusak and Yan [22], or Fernández and Vicente [7].…”

Research on comprehensive application and experimental verification of common methods for linear circuit analysis

“…can solve specific circuits. In actual analysis and calculation, it is worth further studying how to choose a method to solve circuits [1]. However, if it is not particularly convenient to solve the physical quantities in the circuit theoretically, computer simulation and experimental measurement can be used as auxiliary means to determine relevant parameters [2].…”

Employing an underwater vehicle in education as a learning tool for Python programming

“…The physical interaction with the scholars is a fundamental element of the learning process and cannot be replaced [7,15]. For instance, physical interaction conveys several facial expressions, vocal tones, eye contact, and body language.…”