Assessment design in a MATLAB programming course for mechanical engineering students

This paper presents nine different types of formative assessment design for a MATLAB programming class. This work is grounded in the Felder–Silverman learning style model, a model that was developed within engineering education and has been validated and widely used within the field. The assessment construction is guided by three of the four Felder–Silverman learning style dimensions: active–reflective, visual–verbal, and sequential–global. In this paper, the assessment design is presented and then recommendations are provided in how to administer these types of assessments. These recommendations are based on quantitative results from a classroom study, student feedback, and classroom observations. These results lead to the recommendation that assessment is more effective if it is active, visual, and sequential. However, perhaps the most important recommendation is to encourage instructors to vary assessment style, in general, as assessing in a variety of formats helps all students.