ASSESSING QUALITY OF THE TEACHING-LEARNING PROCESS IN ENGINEERING UNDERGRADUATE COURSES

Tabajara Lucas de Alme da Hele!a N"r"!#a Cur$ R"ber% &e% %" Tabajara Lucas de Alme da is professor of Statistics in engineering courses at the Rio Grande Federal University Foundation, Brazil. Address: FURG, K !, "a pus "arreiros, Rio Grande, RS #$%&&'(&&, Brazil. )' ail: ta*a+ i,rus.co .*r Hele!a N"r"!#a Cur$ is professor of -athe atics in engineering courses at the .ontifical "atholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Address: .U"RS, Avenida /piranga, $$!0, .orto Alegre,RS #&$0#'#&&, Brazil. )' ail: curyhn+via'rs.net R"ber% &e% %" is professor of )thology and "o parative Ani al )co'physiology at the Rio Grande Federal University Foundation, Brazil. Address: FURG, K !, "a pus "arreiros, Rio Grande, RS #$%&&'(&&, Brazil. )' ail: doc*etit+super.furg.*r

1eaching athe atics and statistics in the *asic years of undergraduate courses in )2act Sciences involves a lot of difficulties: students co ing fro high school do not have the necessary prere3uisites4 didactical ethods are o*solete regarding the ne5 teaching technologies4 students 5ho are not al5ays 5ell otivated a*andon the course as soon as they are faced 5ith the inherent difficulty of understanding athe atical and statistics concepts or else ta,e an e2tre ely long ti e to graduate. A ne5 5orld order tells us that the efficiency of productive syste s is vital to the continuity of institutions. 1he university ay *e loo,ed upon as a ,no5ledge production syste in 5hich reduction of 5aste is funda ental to its survival. 6ropout and repetition are fatal to its survival, since they are inad issi*le in ter s of society and econo y, *eing reinforced *y the cost of the inade3uacy of the professional in the 5or, ar,et. 6ue to our current social culture, there is a tendency to value the intellect and a necessity of anaging scarce financial resources in Brazilian fa ilies. So the present teaching odel fails to attend to these social necessities. Social and econo ic develop ent is closely connected to technical, political and organizational capacities of a people4 so the utilization of ne5 and ore efficient teaching ethods are essential, in order to a plify the professor7s role in attending ore students 5ithout loss of 3uality, giving access to ore people in the educational syste . 1hus, the responsi*ility of for ing socially conscious citizens 5ill *e fulfilled. 8e *elieve that such ethods should encourage cooperative 5or, a ong students, and students and professors, as 5ell as a ong professors the selves, furthering student7s i prove ent and, conse3uently, their approval rates. School failure is one of the ain causes of dropout and, therefore, of the end of students 9 educational develop ent. /n this paper 5e present t5o e2peri ents of evaluating teaching )ngineering courses. ethodology in statistics and athe atics in

GLASSER'S THEORY OF CHOICE USED IN PRO&A&ILITY AND STATISTICS TEACHING IN AN ENGINEERING UNDERGRADUATE COURSE 1he ethods and educational techni3ues used in the first e2peri ent are *ased on Glasser9s Choice Theory, 5hich *asically states that hu an *eings act so as to continuously fulfill their *asic needs of survival, freedo , love, po5er and fun. As a result, our *ehavior, choices, acts and thoughts are co anded *y the *rain :according to our otivation; and not, as 5as supposed, guided only *y e2ternal sti uli. 1he use of this ,ind of sti uli, to o*tain ans5ers fro those 5ho 5e 5ant to control :S,inner9 Sti uli<Ans5er 1heory; is opposed to the "hoice 1heory, 5hich faces the sti ulus as an =infor ation=, processed *y the other person :5ho 5e thin, 5e can sti ulate; and they, thus, decide if they are going to act according to that infor ation or not, to satisfy any of their *asic needs, previously entioned. 1he study 5as *ased on = .ro*a*ility and Statistics Applied to )ngineering=, 5ith a group of (& students of "o putation )ngineering fro Rio Grande Federal University Foundation. 1here are three *asic principles upon 5hich the activities of the teaching<learning process 5ere developed in this su*>ect: /; 1o create a 5ar , supportive and confident environ ent in the classroo 4 //; al5ays to a,e clear the relevance of the su*>ect studied in that particular class to the for ation and professional life of the student4 ///; to encourage self evaluation.

Based on these principles a "lass )valuation "ard 5as dra5n up 5ith seven 3uestions, handed to the students at the end of each class. 1hey ans5ered the 3uestions, grading each different ite according to a & to ? scale. 1he 3uestions are the follo5ing:

a; *; c; d; e; f; g;

-y state of ind 5hen / arrived today 5as... 6uring the class / can say that / felt... 1he su*>ect studied during this class, regarding its relevance to e, 5as... "onsidering y personal effort, / evaluate y 5or, in class today as... 1he result / reached in this class, concerning learning, 5as... Regarding y learning process, the teacher9s 5or, today 5as... 1he contri*ution of the class group to y personal and professional develop ent 5as...

8ith 3uestions 0 and %, 5e 5ant to verify 5hat difference the class ade to the student7s state of ind, in order to easure the 3uality of the 5or, environ ent. 1hese t5o 3uestions follo5 *asic principle /. @uestion ( as,s a*out the relevance of the su*>ect learned, according to *asic principle //. @uestions A and ? encourage the student9s self'evaluation, so as to follo5 *asic principle ///. 1he ne2t 3uestion ai s at *eing e2ternal reference to the professor9s self'evaluation. 1he last 3uestion ai s at easuring the tea spirit and solidarity 5hich 5as developed in the group, and also respects *asic principle /. 1he professor e2a ines the results after each class, registering grades and analyzing the o*servations ade *y the students on the *ac, of the card, in order to correct shortco ings in the process of the ne2t class. Statistical analysis 5as applied to the grades given on the "lass )valuation "ard, including .rincipal "o ponent Analysis, -ultivariate Analysis of Bariance and -ultiple Regression Analysis. .rincipal "o ponent Analysis 5as e ployed in order to detect relationships *et5een easured varia*les :3uestions 0 to C;, to understand these relationships and to detect the possi*ility of e2cluding so e 3uestion fro the conte2t of the "ard. "alculating factorial scores of the students, one can classify the according to the factors o*tained. 8ith this analysis one can esta*lish a personality profile of the group, after studying 5hich varia*les are ore interrelated. -ultivariate Analysis of Bariance 5as used to verify if the su*>ects that 5ere taught caused significant variation on the average grades of all varia*les 5ith the passing of ti e. /t 5ould *e ideal if the su*>ects did not have any significant influence on average grades, *ecause in that case ethodology 5ould not *e connected to the contents studied, *ut to the for of co unication and all su*>ects 5ould *e considered relevant. /n the class group studied, this analysis sho5ed that average grades for each 3uestion did not differ significantly regarding the su*>ects. -ultiple Regression Analysis 5as used to verify the relation *et5een the grades attri*uted to learning :3uestion ?; and the other 3uestions9 grades, thus verifying the degree of influence of the student9s state of ind, the relevance of the su*>ect studied, his personal effort, the influence of the professor7s and group7s perfor ance on his o5n learning process. 1his techni3ue 5as also used to relate the student7s final average to the averages o*tained throughout the year in each 3uestion on the "lass )valuation "ard. For this class, the varia*le that easures learning is significantly related, in order of i portance to: the student9s personal effort, the professor9s perfor ance and the relevance he gives to the su*>ect studied. Do influence of the student7s state of ind *efore or during the class or of the group 5as detected. /t ay *e noticed that students pri arily associate their perception of learning 5ith their personal effort and less 5ith the professor 9 5or,, as 5ould co only *e e2pected. -ultiple Regression Analysis 5as also e ployed to verify 5hich of the 3uestions 5ere ore related to the final average grade o*tained *y the student at the end of the year and it *eca e evident that personal effort 5as the only varia*le related to this grade. Statistical support to Glasser7s "hoice 1heory is *ased on the fact that, in the opinion of the students of this "o putation )ngineering class, the student7s personal effort is ore i portant to the learning than the professor7s effort and that final grades are also related to their personal effort to learn. 8e also concluded that the 3uestions and ans5ers of the "lass )valuation "ard are coherent and ay *e used. 1o e2plain the variation of the students7 grades, the 3uestions on that "ard have the follo5ing order of i portance: 0'Eearning %' .rofessor ('Relevance A'.ersonal effort ?'State of ind *efore the class $' State of ind during the class. Another i portant result 5as the infor ation that the classes aintain a regular pattern 5hich, in the student7s opinion, is good. Also that there is no significant influence of the su*>ects 5hich 5ere taught upon the grades given on the "lass )valuation "ard.

E(PERI)ENTS USING CO)PUTERS TO TEACH INTEGRAL AND DIFFERENTIAL CALCULUS IN AN ENGINEERING UNDERGRADUATE COURSE 1eaching athe atics in the *asic years of undergraduate courses in )2act Sciences involves a lot of difficulties. Ans5ers to surveys applied to engineering students at the .ontifical "atholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, have sho5n the gaps in their high school for ation, the difficulty of understanding *asic concepts and the e2tre ely long ti e it ta,es to graduate. For t5o years 5e have *een developing a pro>ect in order to change this situation, 5hose ai is to test the use of ne5 co putational technologies as didactical tools in "alculus teaching. 1he results, though favora*le, did not lessen dropout and repetition rates significantly. Students stated that lessons 5ith co puters and the possi*ility of tea 5or, offered the *est learning opportunities. 1o analyze the ethodology e ployed in classes and especially the ade3uacy of using co puters in la*oratory activities, 5e dre5 up a Self')valuation and 6iscipline )valuation "ard. Fn this card, each issue 5as evaluated as Bery Good, Good, Regular, /nsufficient. 1he student analyzed his participation, in ter s of co it ent to study, tas,s carried out, perfor ance in tests and punctuality. 1hen he considered the professor7s participation, concerning astering of contents, clarity of e2positions, availa*ility to clear dou*ts and professor'student relationship. Finally he assessed the evaluating and ethodological procedures e ployed. 1he results 5ere ta*ulated and presented in percentages, sho5ing that the students have a realistic evaluation, *eing a5are of their difficulties in test perfor ance and revealing lo5 dedication to solve proposed e2ercises. Aspects related to the teacher7s participation 5ere evaluated positively and, in ter s of ethodological procedures, the students praised specially the possi*ility of tea 5or,, in pairs, and the use of co puter la*s. Regarding the evaluation results, 5e consider that the e2perience 5as valid and that the tas,s on icroco puters 5ere the ost interesting, *ecause they develop several a*ilities, li,e the interaction a ong students, the adaptation to ne5 e2peri ents, the interpretation of the professor7s re3uest and the ans5er produced *y the achine. 8e noticed that the students, ay*e *ecause of previous re3uired ,no5ledge, prefer to 5or, 5ith colleagues, so as to e2change e2perience in their o5n 5ords, less technical in ter s of ath, *ut appropriated to the proposals of the tas,.

POSSI&ILITIES OF CHANGES IN TEACHING-LEARNING PROCESSES IN ENGINEERING COURSES THROUGH THE RESULTS OF THESE E(PERI)ENTS /f 5e analyze *oth e2peri ents here presented, 5e can see that the ethodologies used in classes are suita*le and that the contents can *e focused in the sa e 5ay as they are no5. Go5ever, using the e2peri ents to focus the teaching process in engineering courses in a glo*al 5ay, it is necessary to consider that any students detected the relevance of the su*>ects learned to their lives 5ithout ,no5ing 5hat life really is. )2plaining this sentence *etter, 5e 5ant to say that the students, ay*e *ecause of their age or aturity level, are ore 5orried a*out evaluating their learning capacity than a*out lin,ing the contents to their real life. 1herefore, professors should a plify the range of situations in 5hich those e2peri ents could *e applied, diversifying the i portance of these theoretical concepts at different opportunities in real life, characterizing 5hat interdisciplinary is all a*out. 1he capacity of creative production of the student7s ind is directly proportional to the for in 5hich they are a*le to integrate co on ele ents of these situations apparently so different as the study of statistics, calculus, non'linear dyna ic syste s and so on. 8hen the professor *eco es a learning facilitator instead of a ,no5ledge trans itter, students7 creativity tends to develop. 1he challenge that is presented, therefore, at least in current Brazilian engineering educational syste , is to ena*le the professor to act 5ith a holistic and non'reductionistic vision. )ducation is developed 5hen there is the acceptance of responsi*ilities, the a5areness of the choices ade in accordance 5ith 5hat 5e ai at, that is, a,ing our students citizens of the 5orld. 8e all have a past, a present and a future and our great role as professors is to help students to understand 5hat they 5ant to *e or to achieve, according to 5hat they have learned, so that they can *eco e pro'active in their lives and not >ust puppets deter ined *y societies, participating in everyday life as onloo,ers 5ithout ,no5ing the real life. Fur future 3uality of life depends on ho5 5e act no5.