Student Self-Assessment Questionnaires using Hierarchical Bloom’s Taxonomy

Abstract This work presents a new set of student self-assessment questionnaires developed according to the hierarchical of Bloom's taxonomy for electromagnetic fields. Electromagnetic fields is an essential course for electrical and electromechanical undergraduate students covering Maxwell's equations, plane wave propagation, and electromagnetic applications. This complex mathematics can be intimidating for the majority of engineering students. Therefore, it is important to make sure that the instructors identify the difficulties students go through during the course early on to make necessary adjustments. A sample question in the student self-assessment is as follows: Gauss's Law for electrostatic fields and Maxwell's first equation. a. I can neither explain, apply nor design an application based on Maxwell's first equation. b. I can explain Maxwell's first equation. However, I can neither apply nor design an application based on it. c. I can explain and apply Maxwell's first equation. However, I cannot design an application based on it. d. I can explain, apply and design an application using Maxwell's first equation. The keywords in the above choices were chosen based on Bloom's taxonomy. Choice a represents a student performing very poorly in class, and choice d represents a student who is excelling in the class. Choice b and c represent average and above-average students. These questions can be posed by the end of each chapter to identify the level of the students based on their own opinion. Also, these can be given at the end of the semester to make necessary adjustments for the upcoming semesters. At the University of Southern Maine, this questionnaire was administered during fall 2020 and fall 2021 for ELE 351: Electromagnetic Fields, to collect students' feedback. According to the student's feedback, the majority of the students have chosen choice c, followed by choices d and b. These results indicate that the students were able to apply the concepts accurately, but they would prefer more hands-on design experience.