Computer-Based Exams in Undergraduate Engineering Courses

Computer-based exams (CBEs) have been used in several engineering courses at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev over the past 3 years. In such exams, all the questions are solved through individual interactive work with a personal computer. Immediate feedback on errors is provided and the grading is done mostly by the computer. The time frame of the exam can be set so that most students are able to redo the whole exam or selected questions using different sets of data to achieve mastery level. Alternatively, time can be limited to encourage students to come well prepared to the exam and to enable differentiation between stronger and weaker students. Several types of CBE were tried, and the one we found the most successful is presented in detail. We found that to ensure mastery of the material and obtain fair and representative grade distribution, five to six mastery oriented quizzes and an evaluative final exam should be given during a semester. Since the grading is done mainly by the computer, the effort required from the instructor is usually less using CBE than when using traditional exams. In the courses where CBE was used, a definite improvement in the problem-solving skills of all the students was observed.