Assessment on course outcome performance using Rasch measurement model

Measurements on students' level of understanding in the Mechanical Engineering program fundamental courses is crucial by determining the level of students' performance prior on proceeding to advanced courses. The level of students' understanding can be identified from the assessment of the course outcomes (CO) as it used to indicate the expected knowledge that the students supposed to acquire at the end of the semester, and it shall be outlined according to the Bloom's Taxonomy. Therefore, this paper presents the level of students' competency of the Statics course in a local Malaysian university. The Statics course was chosen as it is a core course for the first- year students in this program. The measurement of students' understanding level was developed through Rasch measurement model. The results obtained were assessed against the course outcomes (CO) maps for consistency. The study showed that Rasch measurement model can classify grades into course outcomes (CO) more accurately and can segregate the students based on their understanding level. The results from this measurement can provide useful information regarding the students' capabilities in certain fundamental concepts that will be used in the other pre-requisite or co-requisite courses such as Dynamics and Mechanics of Materials.