A Teaching Method Based on In-Class Error Analysis for Instructional Improvement
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.16920/jeet/2026/v39is2/26016Keywords:
Error-analysis, Classroom teaching, Learning analytics, Misconception, Formative Assessment.Abstract
In engineering education, students often carry misconceptions that stay hidden during regular classroom teaching. These wrong ideas can stop them from fully understanding new concepts. This paper presents a simple, teacher-led method called in-class error analysis to help identify and correct such misconceptions. The method was used in a Computer Networks course, where students answered multiple-choice questions (MCQs) after each lesson. The teacher studied the wrong answers to find patterns of misunderstanding and then adjusted the next class accordingly. Educational metrics like accuracy, difficulty index, discrimination index, and normalized learning gain were used to study student performance and the impact of re-teaching. The results showed clear improvements, especially in tricky topics like TCP vs UDP and OSI vs TCP/IP layer mapping. By treating mistakes as useful feedback instead of failures, this approach helps teachers improve their teaching and support better student learning. It also works well without needing any advanced technology, making it suitable for many classrooms.
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