Can Pre-class Assessments Better Prepare Students for Lecture?

Foundations of Software Engineering

Erdogmus and Peraire teach a course on Foundations of Software Engineering. Students watch lecture videos outside of class time and engage in active learning activities during the in-person time. These instructors wanted to assess the efficacy of embedding pre- and post-assessments in their online videos for improving both student learning and preparation for in-person class activities. Each student received embedded assessments for half of the lecture videos and no assessments for the rest. The half of the videos containing embedded assessments varied by course section. As a measure of learning, all of the students took in-class quizzes covering the content from each lecture video. Across all lecture videos, students who received embedded assessments performed significantly better on the in-class quiz questions compared to students who did not receive embedded assessments for that topic. Results suggest that including embedded assessments in pre-class videos can help students better prepare for in-person class sessions.

_{Filters in which this Teaching as Research Project Appears:
College: College of Engineering 
Course Level: Graduate
Course Size: Medium (21-50 students)
Technology Enhanced Learning}