Portfolio-Masoud Ghodrat Abadi | Assessment | Zoom Polling

ENGR115 : Statistics for Engineers

Reflection on Instructional Change:

I modified my assessment strategies to reflect on challenges and opportunities that are presented by online teaching. I used to have two mid-term exams as well as a final in my ENGR115 class. I decided to remove one of the mid-terms and instead include a data analysis project. This project was a culminating experience to test students’ conceptual understanding while working on a real-world problem.
I knew about breakout rooms and polls but I believe STEM Side Car did a great job showcasing their applications. For my regular, in-person classes, I had designed several paired and group activities. In these activities, students would first work on a problem in pair and then they would share their thoughts with the entire class. It was a challenge to properly administer these activates in an online setting. This was at least what I thought before I start doing that. I used breakout sessions to conduct paired activities and then I used polls to conduct group discussions. The outcome was phenomenal. I never expected such an engagement from my students. 
I understand that there are students who do not have access to stable internet connection. While I encouraged everyone to share their webcams during exams, I made this optional to address those with equity or privacy concerns.

Data Analysis Project

Paired Activities Using Zoom Breakout Rooms

Group Discussion Using Zoom Polls

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Faculty Biography

 

Dr. Masoud Ghodrat Abadi is an assistant professor of transportation engineering in Department of Civil Engineering at California State University, Sacramento. Dr. Abadi’s research interests lie in the areas of active transportation, traffic control, traffic safety, and engineering education. He teaches graduate and undergraduate classes covering topics such as: Traffic Engineering, Engineering Statistics, and Transportation Planning.

 

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation NSF Hispanic Serving Institution Award 1832335.  Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.