(137a) Replacing Exams with Projects: Advantages and Disadvantages As Observed during Hybrid and Remote Learning and Broader Efforts Towards Equitable Assessment

In response to a transition to remote and hybrid learning from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as an environment with generally higher levels of stress that can cause students difficulty to prove their knowledge and ability, many instructors have tried to find ways of changing their means of evaluating student performance and understanding. The instructors' efforts have also been impacted on searching for methods that are more equitable to students of all backgrounds and experiences, and so the assessment reflects less inherent bias. Some methods have included weekly quizzes as opposed to larger exams, oral discussion exams instead of written tests, and replacing exams with larger projects. The efforts being made to broaden potential approaches to evaluation may have short-term benefits to provide workable assessment tools for the current environment, but will also provide insight into the effectiveness of each approach to be considered when regular in-person instruction begins again.

At Northeastern University in both a conservation principles course and a fluid mechanics course, students were assigned a short project in addition to each exam, with each project due date being within a week of its respective exam. The project allowed students the opportunity to present their conceptual understanding and knowledge in a creative format, being able to make a comic, video, or simulation addressing concepts from that part of the course. The projects provided a means for students to either reiterate their grasp on the course concepts in either a follow-up or lead-in to their performance on the exam, or to better show their understanding in a different, less-stressful, more open format in potential response to their previous performance. The introduction of the projects also served to reduce the number of exams in the semester, and could be completed remotely.

In this work, we discuss the impacts of these efforts in both short and long semesters (7 week vs. 14 week schedules), student performance and feedback, and insight into the advantages and disadvantages of this approach.