Effective Learning Strategies: Design of Course Structure for Engineering Courses Aimed for Hybrid Classes

Muzammil Arshad; Rebecca R. Romatoski

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Conference: 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access
Location: Virtual Conference
Publication Date: July 26, 2021
Start Date: July 26, 2021
End Date: July 19, 2022
Conference Session: Computation Related
Tagged Division: Mechanical Engineering
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 16
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--37009
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/37009
Download Count: 355

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Paper Authors

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Muzammil Arshad Texas A&M University orcid.org/0000-0003-1606-1046

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Dr. Muzammil Arshad earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering and Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from Florida Institute of Technology, and his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from University of Engineering & Technology, Pakistan.

Prior to joining Texas A&M University, Dr. Arshad taught at Florida Institute of Technology and University of Wisconsin-Platteville. His research interests are in the areas of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Internal Combustion Engines (ICE), Heat Transfer, Chemical Kinetics, and Pedagogy. Dr. Arshad has numerous conference and journal publications and is an organizer/co-organizer for American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) conferences, as well.

Dr. Arshad is very passionate about teaching and focuses on employing the latest technology and pedagogical methodologies for effective student learning and success.

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Rebecca R. Romatoski St. Ambrose University orcid.org/0000-0003-2548-9618

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Dr. Romatoski earned their PhD in Nuclear Science and Engineering from MIT, Master of Science in Nuclear Plasma and Radiological Engineering from University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, and Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from MIT.

Prior to returning to academia to become a professor, Dr. Romatoski was a Nuclear Associate at Sargent & Lundy, a power generation consultant company and interned at 3M working on fuel cell technology testing.

Current research interests include thermal fluids, nuclear reactor design and analysis, and energy systems and climate change. Pedagogical interests are ungrading and flipped classrooms.

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Abstract

In the COVID-19 era, hybrid classes have become the norm. Even though online classes have been there for a while, a proper design of the engineering education courses to motivate the students to learn the material, keeping students’ attention span and excitement level intact has been a challenge for the instructors. To overcome this challenge and design a generic course structure that can be used for engineering as well as science courses, this research has produced the design of the course structure in the most convenient form. The present study of the hybrid course design structure will help in increasing the student attention span as well as help in motivating the students and keeping their excitement about the course content at high levels throughout the semester. To achieve this feat for a variety of engineering courses, the course structure was designed and implemented at Texas A&M University, and implemented and evaluated at Saint Ambrose University in form of student surveys. At Texas A&M University, courses of Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics and Strength of Materials were used to design the hybrid course structure. The course structure uses class lecture broken down into lecture, group problem-solving activity including breakout rooms on Zoom, a relevant video for a “hook” to show the concept with practical application and a one-minute paper in the end to answer any questions. The above-mentioned courses have hybrid labs which are live-streamed to encourage student learning and participation. At Saint Ambrose University, the Electronics course is designed as a flipped classroom hybrid course broken into modules. Students have pre- and post-class material to engage in where they earn engagement or participation points. The setup is very flexible, responsive to students, and easily switches to an online format if required. Before class, students begin engaging with the material by posting notes from reading, watching video lectures covering class content normally provided during class time, and reading quizzes. During class, students actively engage with the material through various activities such as worksheets and practice problems. After class, students can assess themselves with practice problems. Electronics also incorporates hybrid labs that aid students’ understanding of the course material. All this prepares students for instructor assessment through quizzes, exams, or other activities like a topic presentation. Both of these course structure designs are compatible with Face-To-Face instruction as well. These case studies will give the required insight into the teaching effectiveness of the designed structure used during the semester.

Citation
Format

Arshad, M., & Romatoski, R. R. (2021, July), Effective Learning Strategies: Design of Course Structure for Engineering Courses Aimed for Hybrid Classes Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2--37009

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - In the COVID-19 era, hybrid classes have become the norm. Even though online classes have been there for a while, a proper design of the engineering education courses to motivate the students to learn the material, keeping students’ attention span and excitement level intact has been a challenge for the instructors. To overcome this challenge and design a generic course structure that can be used for engineering as well as science courses, this research has produced the design of the course structure in the most convenient form. The present study of the hybrid course design structure will help in increasing the student attention span as well as help in motivating the students and keeping their excitement about the course content at high levels throughout the semester.  To achieve this feat for a variety of engineering courses, the course structure was designed and implemented at Texas A&amp;amp;M University, and implemented and evaluated at Saint Ambrose University in form of student surveys. At Texas A&amp;amp;M University, courses of Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics and Strength of Materials were used to design the hybrid course structure. The course structure uses class lecture broken down into lecture, group problem-solving activity including breakout rooms on Zoom, a relevant video for a “hook” to show the concept with practical application and a one-minute paper in the end to answer any questions. The above-mentioned courses have hybrid labs which are live-streamed to encourage student learning and participation. At Saint Ambrose University, the Electronics course is designed as a flipped classroom hybrid course broken into modules. Students have pre- and post-class material to engage in where they earn engagement or participation points. The setup is very flexible, responsive to students, and easily switches to an online format if required. Before class, students begin engaging with the material by posting notes from reading, watching video lectures covering class content normally provided during class time, and reading quizzes. During class, students actively engage with the material through various activities such as worksheets and practice problems. After class, students can assess themselves with practice problems. Electronics also incorporates hybrid labs that aid students’ understanding of the course material. All this prepares students for instructor assessment through quizzes, exams, or other activities like a topic presentation. Both of these course structure designs are compatible with Face-To-Face instruction as well. These case studies will give the required insight into the teaching effectiveness of the designed structure used during the semester.
AU  - Muzammil Arshad
AU  - Rebecca R. Romatoski
CY  - Virtual Conference
DA  - 2021/07/26
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Effective Learning Strategies: Design of Course Structure for Engineering Courses Aimed for Hybrid Classes
UR  - https://strategy.asee.org/37009
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--37009
ER  -