2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Large-scale Mathematics courses for engineering students pose challenges for instructors and students alike. These include encouraging students to stay engaged throughout the term and providing meaningful feedback to minimize attrition and improve learning outcomes at scale. Formative assessments and problem-solving activities were suggested as ways to address these challenges. However, their optimal quantity, timing, and context in higher Mathematics education remains an open question. To address it, we analyzed learning activities and outcomes in four runs of a Modern Algebra course (n=1564) for Computer Science and Electrical Engineering undergraduate students. We found that formative assessments increased students’ likelihood of taking the final exam, but not necessarily passing it. Focusing on students' clickstream data of problem-solving activities in one course run (n=352) revealed similar patterns. We discuss our findings in the context of the formative assessment and problem-solving literature and offer design implications.