Analysis Of Assessment Results In A Linear Systems Course

Linear (signals and) systems course is a core component of undergraduate curricula in electrical engineering programs worldwide. The Signals and Systems Concept Inventory (SSCI) is a set of multiple-choice questions that measures students’ understanding of fundamental concepts such as signal transformations, linearity, time-invariance, transforms, convolution, etc. There are two versions of the SSCI for Linear Systems. One deals with Continuous-Time (CT) systems and the other deals with Discrete-Time (DT) systems. Beginning Fall 2005, the CT SSCI Tests (developed externally) have been administered in almost every offering of our Linear systems course. These tests fulfill the ABET requirement for assessment. They also help track the effectiveness of teaching styles by testing whether the students are learning the basic concepts in the course. In this paper, we present the results of the tests for both Fall 2005 and Fall 2006 and analyze the results to assess the students’ performance and determine evidence of learning outcomes. Some suggestions for future offerings of the course are also presented. These results are also compared with other assessment tools (developed internally) prior to the use of the SSCI Tests. Some conclusions are made on the efficacy of the prior tests and the SSCI tests. The SSCI Discrete-Time (DT) Tests has also been administered in the subsequent course. Results of that study will be disseminated elsewhere.