Benefits of Establishing Accurate Student Learning Time Estimates in Two Second-Year Integrated Engineering and Math Courses

Abstract

At the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the School of Biomedical Engineering at the University of British Columbia (UBC) a system of providing and refining time estimates for student completion of homework assignments has been introduced in two integrated second-year Engineering and Math courses. Particular attention has been given to individual homework questions. In this paper findings to date are presented after two offerings of the courses in which this system was implemented. By using student feedback from the first offering to adjust instructor time estimates, instructors were able to obtain time estimates accurate to within 5 minutes of student reported averages for 77% of ELEC211 and 64% of BMEG 220 questions. Student perception of the usefulness of time estimates was generally positive, ranging from 35% to 64% of students reporting the initiative to be either ‘useful’ or ‘very useful’ over 3 years of data. Examples drawn from both courses will be discussed to demonstrate how the collected data is being used to identify areas of further improvement to assignment questions and course structure.