Homework Methods in Engineering Mechanics

This study observes the efficacy of short in class quizzes used to assess students’ understanding of homework assignments in an engineering mechanics (Statics & Dynamics) course. Rather than directly grading assigned problems, a random problem was selected from the assigned homework set and used for a quiz on the following class period. Previously, students submitted scans of completed homework assignments via Canvas (learning management software, LMS) and homework was graded directly. Motivation for this research was generated by negative feedback from students in respect to the difficulty and time spent on homework and a lack of correlation between homework and other assessments of performance (quizzes and exams) in the class. Our hypothesis was that using frequent quizzes would motivate students to understand the problems and improve performance on exams. Results suggest that the change had a minimal impact on overall performance, evaluation of student and instructor perceptions show potential benefits countered by stress and time lost to overly frequent quizzes.