E-assessments to increase the perceived importance of mathematics in the introductory phase of engineering education via bridging tasks

Abstract

This article presents a project designed to increase motivation and perceived impact of mathematics for engineering students in the first year of engineering studies at Hamburg University of Technology. The aim of this project is to demonstrate to students the importance of mathematics for any engineering subject, specifically for mechanical and electrical engineering as the main subjects of their respective study programs. This is achieved by posing problems linking both mechanical and electrical engineering, respectively, to mathematics via e-assessment. By explicitly showing the relevance of mathematics for their chosen major subject, we increase student motivation during mathematics classes and, therefore, their performance. We comment on why we chose e-assessment as the tool to implement the applied problems, bridging the gap between mathematics and the fundamental subject of the two study programs, provide examples of the kind of problems we have found to be successful in achieving our goals and discuss our experiences.