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Incorporating Multimedia Content to Enhance and Re-focus Course Delivery for a Multidisciplinary Engineering Laboratory

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Conference

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Seattle, Washington

Publication Date

June 14, 2015

Start Date

June 14, 2015

End Date

June 17, 2015

ISBN

978-0-692-50180-1

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies: Pedagogy of Lab-Oriented Courses

Tagged Division

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies

Page Count

11

Page Numbers

26.941.1 - 26.941.11

DOI

10.18260/p.24278

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/24278

Download Count

478

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Paper Authors

biography

Ventzislav Karaivanov Colorado School of Mines

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• Ventzi Karaivanov, Teaching Associate Professor, Ph.D., Department of Mechanical Engineering, Colorado School of Mines.
Education
• Ph.D.– Mechanical Engineering, Swanson School of Engineering at University of Pittsburgh, 2009.
“Life prediction modeling of thermal barrier coated turbine airfoils”
Teaching and Professional societies
• Teaching Interests: Mechanics of Materials, Computer Aided Engineering, Dynamics, Engineering Vibrations, Multidisciplinary Engineering Laboratory.
• American Society of Mechanical Engineers
• American Society of Engineering Education

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biography

Jeffrey A. Holley P.E. Colorado School of Mines

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Jeffrey Holley, PE received a B.S. in Engineering from Colorado School of Mines in 1988, a M.B.A. from the University of Colorado in 1993, and a M.S. in Environmental Science and Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines in 2011. As a practicing civil engineer registered in 14 western states his specialties include planning and construction document preparation for grading, drainage, infrastructure utility, and storm water quality enhancement design. As an instructor at CSM he has had the opportunity to teach Water and Wastewater Treatment, Fluid Mechanics, Multidisciplinary Engineering Laboratory II, Engineering Field Session – Civil, Mechanics of Materials, Dynamics for Mining Engineers, Statics, and Senior Design.

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Abstract

Incorporating Multimedia Content to Enhance and Re-focus Course Delivery for a Multidisciplinary Engineering LaboratoryWhile electronic and on-line resources have made the remote delivery of lecture-based coursescommon place, the importance attached to the undergraduate laboratory experience has, incontrast, grown. Engineering-based knowledge is traditionally gained practically in educationallaboratories. Initiated in 1997, the Multidisciplinary Engineering Laboratory Sequence (MEL)was created to provide students with a foundation in engineering fundamentals, skills to adapt torapidly changing technology, and an aptitude for life-long learning. MEL’s educationalobjectives have been focused on experiments that span multiple disciplines, extend knowledge,and cultivate teamwork and leadership. From the beginning there were challenges to deliveringa uniform curriculum. Instructors wrestle with a “hands-off” approach versus a traditionalexplain-all-the-steps approach to successfully develop a student’s cognition (instrumentation anddata analysis), psychomotor (apparatus operation and sensory awareness), and the affectivedomain (learning from failure, creativity, and communication). Also, it has been observed thatlaboratory apparatus credibility and data relevance are critical for students to successfullyinternalize their experience. Preparation in advance of an upcoming exercise is the key tostudent success, and efforts to encourage preparation have lasting returns.There may be as many as seven sections for each course in the sequence taking place each week.Scheduling necessitates the involvement of several different instructors to staff the course, eachbringing with them areas of expertise ranging from theory, to instrumentation, to dataacquisition, to lab experience. The diversity makes the laboratory experience rich, but alsopresents challenges to optimizing course delivery to individual sections. To enhance studentexperience, short videos and slide presentations bringing together all of the instructors’ expertisewere created to supplement the written introductions, descriptions, and pre-laboratoryworksheets that have traditionally been provided. The resulting multimedia resources addressmultiple learning modes, accommodate the student’s schedules, and provide a host of differentmeans by which students can access the material. The ability to view the material multiple timesand concentrate on challenging subject areas appears to be popular among students; it hasincreased efficiency and allowed for the expansion of course content. The viewing statisticsshow that video modules are initially viewed prior to the lab period and, again, during thepreparation of the final report.This paper will explore the concerns and motivations that preceded preparation of multimediacontent, outline thoughts to aid future production of effective course material videos based onexperience gained, and assess changes in terms of the student experience and outcomes.

Karaivanov, V., & Holley, J. A. (2015, June), Incorporating Multimedia Content to Enhance and Re-focus Course Delivery for a Multidisciplinary Engineering Laboratory Paper presented at 2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle, Washington. 10.18260/p.24278

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2015 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015