Mastery-Level Achievement Method for Assessing Module-Based Educational Tools
Publication: Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 145, Issue 4
Abstract
Active-based learning techniques provide an effective pedagogical strategy to support student learning. This paper describes the development of new assessment techniques to evaluate an active-based intervention incorporated into a junior-level (third year) transportation engineering course. The research team compared the degree of change resulting from the learning intervention using a traditional single group pretest to posttest design. To capture the level of mastery achieved at various categories of physical activity and safety concepts, this study also evaluates project-based learning intervention in an additional two ways: overall MAstery-Level Achievement (MALA) on various categories and total percent of students achieving mastery. The students showed significant improvement at the MALA for all four categories of concepts for various levels of learning. The example evaluation highlights implications for project-based learning related to the demand that active commuting imposes on transportation infrastructure. The MALA method strengthens the assessment of the project-based learning approach by specifically identifying the different levels of mastery achieved for various concept categories.
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Acknowledgments
The research team acknowledges the support from the Transportation Research Center for Livable Communities at Western Michigan University, one of 32 University Transportation Research Centers sponsored by the US Department of Transportation.
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Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 145 • Issue 4 • October 2019
Copyright
©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 15, 2017
Accepted: Feb 5, 2019
Published online: Jul 12, 2019
Published in print: Oct 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Dec 12, 2019
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