Impact of Online Worksheets Versus In-class Printed Worksheets on Students’ Learning Outcomes and Content Mastery

Paniz Khanmohammadi Hazaveh; Linda Wanless

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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: Tools to Enhance Student Learning of Undergraduate Engineering Content
Tagged Division: Educational Research and Methods
Page Count: 13
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--37286
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/37286
Download Count: 1102

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Paper Authors

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Paniz Khanmohammadi Hazaveh Michigan Technological University

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Dr. Hazaveh received her PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Michigan Technological University in 2018 with a focus on Single Electron Transistors. She has been a Lecturer in Electrical Engineering and Electrical Engineering Technology at MTU since 2017 where she is currently a Lecturer in the College of Computing.

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Linda Wanless Michigan Technological University

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Dr. Linda Wanless has 16+ years teaching Engineering Technology courses with an emphasis in Manufacturing and Manufacturing processes. She is currently an Educational Technologist in the Teaching and Learning Center at Michigan Technological University where she supports faculty development needs. Her current area of research interest is emerging learning environments.

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Abstract

Developing problem solving skills and engaging students in critical thinking are essential parts of engineering and engineering technology courses which require high levels of interaction between students and instructors. This highly interactive nature of engineering/engineering technology courses makes teaching these courses in an online format challenging for educators. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, online delivery of courses has become an essential skill for engineering/engineering technology instructors. Online teaching is now a necessity, not an option. In a face to face engineering/engineering technology course, inquiry based tools such as worksheets are shown to be effective in keeping students engaged and helping them develop essential problem-solving skills. In class worksheets also provide a real-time assessment tool for the instructor to determine content mastery by the students and also to establish and appropriate pace for the class. To keep online engineering/engineering technology courses as effective and interactive as possible, in class worksheets can be modified as an online assignment. This study aims to evaluate the distinction in successfully attaining learning outcomes by students when exercising online worksheets versus in class printed worksheets, which is a first step in examining the impact of online versus face to face delivery in engineering/engineering technology courses. Our hypothesis is that exercising online versus in class printed worksheet impacts the successful attainment of the learning outcomes.

The data were collected in a Digital/Microprocessor Basics course (EET2141) which is a part of a 4-year electrical engineering technology degree program at Michigan Technological University. This study reports on the comparison of students’ attainment of learning outcomes and content mastery in EET2141 between two groups of students. The first group of students attended EET2141 in the Fall 2019 and were given real-world problems to solve in the form of printed inquiry-based worksheets at the end of every class session. The printed worksheets were related to the same day’s lecture material and were collected at the end of the class period. The second group of students attended EET2141 in the Fall 2020 and after each face to face session they were assigned to find the same worksheets online (in the Canvas Learning Management System) and submit them online. The recitation sessions for both groups were held face to face in order to evaluate the absolute impact of physical and online worksheets between the two groups.

A list of learning objectives for EET2141 is included in this paper and students content mastery on each objective is assessed using their average performance in related homework assignments, exams and labs. To evaluate the difference between the effectiveness of the online worksheets versus in-class printed worksheets on students’ learning outcomes for each objective, the class average grade and the distribution of the grades in all assignments related to the objective is statistically compared and reported. A student survey on printed and online worksheets is also included in this study.

Citation
Format

Hazaveh, P. K., & Wanless, L. (2021, July), Impact of Online Worksheets Versus In-class Printed Worksheets on Students’ Learning Outcomes and Content Mastery Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2--37286

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Developing problem solving skills and engaging students in critical thinking are essential parts of engineering and engineering technology courses which require high levels of interaction between students and instructors. This highly interactive nature of engineering/engineering technology courses makes teaching these courses in an online format challenging for educators. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, online delivery of courses has become an essential skill for engineering/engineering technology instructors. Online teaching is now a necessity, not an option. In a face to face engineering/engineering technology course, inquiry based tools such as worksheets are shown to be effective in keeping students engaged and helping them develop essential problem-solving skills. In class worksheets also provide a real-time assessment tool for the instructor to determine content mastery by the students and also to establish and appropriate pace for the class. To keep online engineering/engineering technology courses as effective and interactive as possible, in class worksheets can be modified as an online assignment. This study aims to evaluate the distinction in successfully attaining learning outcomes by students when exercising online worksheets versus in class printed worksheets, which is a first step in examining the impact of online versus face to face delivery in engineering/engineering technology courses. Our hypothesis is that exercising online versus in class printed worksheet impacts the successful attainment of the learning outcomes. 

The data were collected in a Digital/Microprocessor Basics course (EET2141) which is a part of a 4-year electrical engineering technology degree program at Michigan Technological University. This study reports on the comparison of students’ attainment of learning outcomes and content mastery in EET2141 between two groups of students. The first group of students attended EET2141 in the Fall 2019 and were given real-world problems to solve in the form of printed inquiry-based worksheets at the end of every class session. The printed worksheets were related to the same day’s lecture material and were collected at the end of the class period. The second group of students attended EET2141 in the Fall 2020 and after each face to face session they were assigned to find the same worksheets online (in the Canvas Learning Management System) and submit them online. The recitation sessions for both groups were held face to face in order to evaluate the absolute impact of physical and online worksheets between the two groups. 

A list of learning objectives for EET2141 is included in this paper and students content mastery on each objective is assessed using their average performance in related homework assignments, exams and labs. To evaluate the difference between the effectiveness of the online worksheets versus in-class printed worksheets on students’ learning outcomes for each objective, the class average grade and the distribution of the grades in all assignments related to the objective is statistically compared and reported. A student survey on printed and online worksheets is also included in this study. 



AU  - Paniz Khanmohammadi Hazaveh
AU  - Linda Wanless
CY  - Virtual Conference
DA  - 2021/07/26
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Impact of Online Worksheets Versus In-class Printed Worksheets on Students’ Learning Outcomes and Content Mastery
UR  - https://strategy.asee.org/37286
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--37286
ER  -