Study of Student Performance of Intensive Courses of Basic Mathematics Subjects in Civil Engineering. Relevance and Quality

Estudio del Rendimiento Estudiantil de los Cursos Intensivos de Asignaturas Básicas de Matemática en Ingeniería Civil. Pertinencia y Calidad

Abstract

An exploratory study was carried out on student performance in the basic mathematics subjects taken at the School of Civil Engineering of the Andrés Bello Catholic University, Caracas campus, during the intensive periods August - September 2015 and August - September 2016. Student performance was calculated, for each curricular unit, as (i) percentage of passes, (ii) average of the grades and (iii) range of the grades, after having completed both intensives. The results indicate that, in general, student performance reached average values with a high dispersion of grades and was higher than in regular semesters; Likewise, no evidence was found of significant relationships with the degree of repetition or with performance in subsequent subjects. These intensives met elements of curricular relevance and academic quality referring to the satisfaction of the needs of the curricular actors, use of time as a student resource and curricular pursuit; Furthermore, the exploration allowed us to recognize aspects that should be further explored in future research: the coherence between the curricular design and its implementation, the adequacy of classroom management, and the effectiveness related to the achievement of the training purposes, all within the framework of Ucabist comprehensive training.