Collaborative Proposal:The Signals and Systems Concept Inventory

该项目正在完善、验证和传播一种评估工具，即信号和系统概念清单（SSCI），用于电气和计算机工程课程的核心课程。SSCI，模仿牛顿力学的力概念量表，由25个选择题组成，强调概念理解，而不是死记硬背的问题解决。错误的答案，或者说是干扰因素，抓住了学生们普遍的误解。来自12个不同机构的一组教师，被称为开发团队，正在提供与成绩、性别和种族数据相关的测试前和测试后SSCI分数。这些数据被用来检查仪器的结构有效性和检查结果中的偏倚证据。开发团队正在通过对SSCI问题的专家同行评审来评估该工具的内容效度。正在使用测试/再测试方案来校准仪器的可靠性。学生访谈为效度分析提供了额外的数据。该小组正在准备一本SSCI指导手册，该手册将描述每个干扰因素捕获了哪些学生的误解。本手册还将通过为SSCI提供学生表现和测试前/测试后收益的基线数据来指导结果的解释。开发团队的年度会议被用来监督项目目标的进展，每一次会议都被转化为一组可测量的结果和评估问题。期刊文章、会议报告、signals-andsystems.org网站以及信号处理和工程教育会议的研讨会被用来传播SSCI和研究结果。

This project is refining, validating, and disseminating an assessment instrument, the Signals and Systems Concept Inventory (SSCI), for a core course in the electrical and computer engineering curricula. The SSCI, modeled after the Force Concept Inventory for Newtonian mechanics, consists of 25 multiple choice questions emphasizing conceptual understanding, not rote problem solving. The incorrect answers, or distractors, capture common student misconceptions. A group of faculty member from 12 diverse institutions, referred to as the Development Team, are providing pretest and posttest SSCI scores linked to grades, gender, and race data. These data are being used to examine the construct validity of the instrument and to check for evidence of bias in the results. The Development Team is assessing the content validity of the instrument through expert peer review of the SSCI questions. A test/re-test protocol is being used to calibrate the reliability of the instrument. Student interviews are providing additional data for the validity analysis. The group is preparing a SSCI Instructor Manual that will describe which student misconceptions are captured by each distractor. This manual will also guide the interpretation of results by providing baseline data on student performance and pretest/posttest gains for the SSCI. Annual meetings of the Development Team are being used to monitor progress toward the project's objectives, each of which has been translated into a set of measurable outcomes and evaluation questions. Journal articles, conference presentations, the signals-and-systems.org website, and workshops at signal processing and engineering education conferences are being used to disseminate the SSCI and the study results.