Collaborative Proposal:The Signals and Systems Concept Inventory

该项目是完善，验证和传播的评估工具，信号和系统概念清单（SSCI），在电气和计算机工程课程的核心课程。SSCI以牛顿力学的力概念量表为蓝本，由25道多项选择题组成，强调概念理解，而不是死记硬背的问题解决。不正确的答案，或干扰，捕捉常见的学生误解。来自12个不同机构的一组教师，被称为发展团队，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。这些数据被用于检查仪器的结构有效性，并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有效性。正在使用测试/重新测试方案来校准仪器的可靠性。学生访谈为有效性分析提供了额外的数据。该小组正在准备一份SSCI教师手册，将描述哪些学生的误解是由每个干扰捕获。该手册还将通过提供学生表现的基线数据和SSCI的测试前/后收益来指导结果的解释。 正在利用发展小组年度会议来监测实现项目目标的进展情况，每一项目标都已转化为一套可衡量的成果和评价问题。期刊文章，会议介绍，signals-and-systems.org网站，并在信号处理和工程教育会议研讨会正在被用来传播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.