Implementation of the Bologna agreement between EU members causes big changes in the higher education in Flanders, Belgium. As a result the subject physics is reduced in the revised curriculum for engineering sciences. To maximise the benefit given the limited time, we work out a new approach for the work sessions physics.
Our experience shows that the students have great difficulties writing solid reports. Therefore we emphasize the importance of the written report in the first bachelor year. However as a test, we introduced peer assessment for learning purposes: we let the students perform an experiment with the aid of a report written by one of their colleagues. Additionally the students are asked to review the original report. The results bear out neither obvious positive or negative influence on the student’s lab skills. Therefore several refinements are suggested.
In the second bachelor year, in addition to a reduction of the number of experiments, we diversify our goals. The students have to study 4 experiments profoundly. Assessment relies on a written report, an oral presentation, a practical test and a written test. Moreover, the students are asked to formulate some test questions themselves.
The presentations and reports are evaluated by the teacher-expert. For a small test group we also use formative peer assessment. The score given by the teacher and the averaged ranking given by the fellow students correlates rather well. Therefore the peer assessment can be extended to evaluate the presentations. The assessment of the own presentation on the other hand gives no correlation with the expert’s score.
Comparing the scores to those of previous year, shows no main differences. The appreciation of the students although, as appeared from a small inquiry, is much higher.
2nd International CDIO Conference, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden, 13 – 14 June 2006