Exploring the effectiveness of continuous activity with automatic feedback in online calculus

Academic results in mathematics subjects in engineering, especially those taught online, are poor. The key contextual elements of an insufficient level of prior knowledge, poor motivation, and the intrinsic difficulty of the subject matter has led to the review of the study materials and the creation of a methodology based on continuous assessment with automatic feedback at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. The main objective of this article is to present evidence of improved learning outcomes with the application and use of WIRIS quizzes as an automatic assessment tool in calculus subjects. To that end, we carried out descriptive research with an ex-post-facto design, based on statistical analysis of the results for continuous assessment and students' grades in 11 semesters. The new strategy has been applied in the last two academic years, based on introductory Moodle lessons and assessment with interactive questionnaires. The data obtained are inconclusive: In the first two semesters that the methodology was implemented, the results show a noticeable improvement in several key aspects, such as undertaking and passing the continuous assessment and improved results across the spectrum of grades. However, in the last two semesters, the results are generally similar to those obtained with the old methodology.