A study on the impact of repetition of formative assessments in a formal methods course for professional software engineers
Javier Cámara and
David Garlan.
In IEEE Software, 2023. doi: 10.1109/MS.2023.3291400.
Online links:  Plain Text
Abstract
| Although tests are traditionally used as mandatory summative assessments at
the end of the instruction period and their purpose is measuring how well a student has
learned a given subject, they can also play an important role in formative assessment
when they are employed as an instrument to aid in the acquisition and retention of
knowledge. This study evaluates the role of tests as weekly formative assessments and
investigates the impact of their repetition (i.e., administering the same test more than
once) on academic performance of students in a postgraduate formal methods course for
professional software engineers. Our hypothesis is that repetition in formative
assessments leads to increased academic performance, as well as to an improvement in
the effectiveness of gauging student progress. Based on an analysis of data from a
population of 194 students that took the course during the period 2013-2017, we report
results that point at the validity of our hypothesis. |
Keywords: Education, Formal Methods.
|
|
