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Summarizing the Use of Knowledge Surveys to Inform Effective Learning and Teaching Practices

Summarizing the Use of Knowledge Surveys to Inform Effective Learning and Teaching Practices. Dr. Melissa Beauregard US Air Force Academy Col Joel Sloan, Ph.D., P.E.; Lt Col Mike Brannon, P.E. Presentation Overview. US Air Force Academy Knowledge Surveys KS @ USAFA Results Lessons Learned

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Summarizing the Use of Knowledge Surveys to Inform Effective Learning and Teaching Practices

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  1. Summarizing the Use of Knowledge Surveys to Inform Effective Learning and Teaching Practices Dr. Melissa Beauregard US Air Force Academy Col Joel Sloan, Ph.D., P.E.; Lt Col Mike Brannon, P.E.

  2. Presentation Overview • US Air Force Academy • Knowledge Surveys • KS @ USAFA • Results • Lessons Learned • Future Work

  3. US Air Force Academy • Military Service Academy • Military – Academics - Athletics • ~4000 students (~1k per class) • Undergraduate only • Graduates commission as officers in USAF • Various career fields • ~50% pilots • ~45 Civil Engineering majors per graduating class • USAF has civil engineers!

  4. Knowledge Surveys Assess ability to self-assess Helpful for students: Encourages metacognition Develops effective learning strategies Encourages them to ‘lean in’ to what they don’t know Helpful for faculty: Aides course organization and planning Helps focus curriculum development Guide program assessment

  5. KS @ USAFA Implemented in multiple courses within our department Elementary Structural Analysis (2nd year) Intro to Geotechnical Engineering (2nd or 3rd year) Intro to Hydraulics (3rd year) Foundation Engineering (4th year) Pavement Design (4th year) Generally: KS implemented in beginning of course and prior to mid-term exams.

  6. KS @ USAFA Each course is designed to meet overall course objectives with individual lessons objectives Each KS question represents a single lesson objective… I can list the foundation failure modes: a) I am unable to perform the task at this time. b) I am able to partially perform the task at this time. c) I can perform the task for evaluation at this time.

  7. Results! (Intro to Geotech) Pre-exam KS compared with exam scores (by student) Pre-exam KS results organized by Bloom Level

  8. Results! (Foundation Engineering) Pre-exam KS compared with exam scores Post-project KS compared with project scores

  9. Summarizing Results • Our students do a reasonably good job of assessing their ability to meet lesson objectives • Our students struggled most with lowest Bloom levels • A few outliers generate some obvious questions: • Did we teach something poorly? • Are our objectives unclear? • Are our exam questions unclear? • Is there some other underlying disconnect between what we think we are teaching and what students believe they have learned?

  10. Utilizing KS for Course Assessment/Improvement Question 4: Name and describe the 3 major rock types Potential issues: Lesson(s) on geology may not be well integrated into later lessons, and therefore geology lessons may seem uncoupled from the rest of the class.

  11. Course Improvements • No highest • Mostly 1-3 • Adequate? • This course okay, other(s) not

  12. Final Observations • Student are reasonably good at self-assessment and could potentially use Knowledge Surveys as a tool to focus studying and implement more effective learning strategies • Knowledge Surveys may also serve as an excellent opportunity for course improvement • Even if results of knowledge surveys indicate we’re doing things correctly, it’s nice to be able to quantify that and move forward with confidence

  13. Thanks! Colonel Joel Sloan, Ph.D., P.E. Lt Col Mike Brannon, P.E. Dr. Lauren Scharff Questions?

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