PHYSICS 305 & 306
FALL 2011 and SPRING 2012
COURSE ASSESSMENT AND ANALYSIS

The effectiveness of the course assessment and students’ performance has been evaluated in two consecutive semesters of (FA’11 and SP’12) with same batch of 20 Architecture and Construction Science major students. Two different strategies were followed while administering the term tests. During the FA’11 semester three tests, each of 30 points were conducted in addition to the final exam. Whereas in the SP’12, three tests each of 20 points and three quizzes (each of 10 points) in between tests were administered. The purpose of these assessments was to monitor the level of students’ performance. Administering 3 tests and 3 quizzes did improve the students’ performance due to (i) reduced load of preparation materials which was shared between the tests and the quizzes, (ii) regular short duration testing with breakdown of total points maximized their subject (concepts, formula, problems) retention level and (iii) periodic testing helped them to constantly read the instructed materials. However, the only drawback inferred was administering frequent tests and quizzes reduced the teaching time of the instructor. So, the syllabus coverage has been affected a bit. Figure 1 and 2 shows the pi-charts of overall percentage of all (3 tests + final exam) in FA’11 and (3 tests + 3 quizzes + final exam) in SP’12 semesters respectively. The comparison of Figures 1 and 2 indicates an improvement of “Problem Solving” was increased by 2% in SP’12. Based on the overall analysis, the second methodology of breakdown tests and quizzes improved the grade percentage levels of “A” and “B” compared to the conventional method followed in FA’11.