The usage of digital resources during the Corona semester at a German university

Abstract

The engineering students (electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and industrial engineering) at the Brandenburg Technical University Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU) have been offered study-related, electronic tests in mathematics (in the first and second semester with 6 SWS each) since 2014. Since 2016, the successful (successful = at least 50 percent of each test solved correctly) processing these weekly tests has been part of the compulsory examination admission in mathematics [1]. The tests are designed in such a way that, due to the randomization of the task variables, they can lead to increased learning success even if they are processed several times [2]. The tests and other activities (e.g. learning videos, simulations and interactive materials such as memories) in the digital course room have also been accompanied and additionally evaluated with the help of tools for collecting learner data (learning analytics) since 2016 [3]. As part of this contribution, the student activities (which is understood as digital engagement in this context) due to the pandemicrelated online summer semester 2020 are to be compared with those from previous years (summer semester 2014 to 2019). These student cohorts are largely comparable in terms of the total number of students who took part in the course, as well as their previous knowledge of mathematics and the final examination (exam grades).