Re-design of a Large Statics Course to Forster Creativity and Inclusion

Shinae Jang

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: Civil Engineering Division - Integration of Engineering and/or Technical Rigor with Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice (DEIJ)
Page Count: 12
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--41375
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/41375
Download Count: 286

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Shinae Jang University of Connecticut

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Prof. Shinae Jang is an Associate Professor in Residence and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Connecticut (UConn). She joined UConn in 2010 after receiving her B.S. and M.S. from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Prof. Jang’s research interests include smart structures, structural health monitoring, wireless sensor networks, and engineering education. She has taught multiple undergraduate and graduate courses including Statics, Structural Analysis, and Senior Design. Prof. Jang is the recipient of the 2021 Emerging Leader Fellow Award from the ASEE Civil Engineering Division, the 2021 Distinguished Engineering Educator Award from UConn, and the 2018 Civil Engineering Educator of the Year award from the Connecticut Society of Civil Engineers. She has served as the faculty advisor of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) UConn Chapter since 2012.

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Abstract

Abstract

Statics is one of the first large courses that engineering students encounter, and teaches various foundation topics and rigorous assessment schemes. Statics is an important course in that it gives the student the necessary foundation to further succeed in their education and careers. Providing an equal opportunity to success for all students regardless their background and characteristics – such as race, gender, or disability – is the goal of the inclusive classroom. There has been increased interest in acknowledging the variations in cognitive and learning abilities, and in making accessible the classroom for a neurodiverse population. Neurodiversity affects the performance of engineering students largely due to the field’s often narrow focus and rigid adherence to traditional instruction and assessment. For the inclusive classroom to provide the opportunity of success for all students, re-thinking and re-designing our courses and curricula to allow flexibility in courseware and accommodation for students’ needs is of vital importance.

With the accelerating change of pace in the 21st century, Cropley (2015) predicted that creative technological solutions will be required to deal with a large growth in new problems. The creation of future solutions can be nurtured by promoting creativity and innovation in engineering education. Solving old problems with old solutions is replication, which will not be sufficient for the future our students will encounter. Recent studies have suggested that neurodiverse students possess creative problem-solving skills which can contribute to provide new technological solutions to the engineering discipline. Re-designs of the Statics course have been proposed to accommodate neurodiverse students, with the prospect that increasing diversity and promoting creative problem-solving skills have the potential to be beneficial for the Civil Engineering (CE) profession.

The objective of this paper is to report a re-design procedure of the Statics course to accommodate neurodiverse students and improve the effectiveness of course instruction in the online distance learning environment, while maintaining academic effectiveness. The procedure includes implementing seven universal design of instructions (UDI) principles and strength-based final project options. The UDI implementation and final project description and rubrics are provided. A work in progress report was previously presented and this paper will provide a complete work. Since Fall 2020, this course has been offered for 3 consecutive semesters. The first cohort in Fall 2020 has 2 groups: 1 comparison group and 1 experimental group. The second cohort in Spring 2021 has 1 experimental group; the third cohort in Fall 2021 has 1 experimental group. Each semester a formative evaluation regarding the UDI implementation has been conducted for the experimental group. For all sections, the summative students’ evaluations of teaching (SET) were conducted at the end of the semester, and the results from all sections were compared. This paper will report the implementation results of the re-design for consecutive 3 semesters, summarize the impacts and challenges, and provide insight to apply the re-design scheme to other institutions.

Citation
Format

Jang, S. (2022, August), Re-design of a Large Statics Course to Forster Creativity and Inclusion Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41375

TY - CPAPER
AB - Abstract

Statics is one of the first large courses that engineering students encounter, and teaches various foundation topics and rigorous assessment schemes. Statics is an important course in that it gives the student the necessary foundation to further succeed in their education and careers. Providing an equal opportunity to success for all students regardless their background and characteristics – such as race, gender, or disability – is the goal of the inclusive classroom. There has been increased interest in acknowledging the variations in cognitive and learning abilities, and in making accessible the classroom for a neurodiverse population. Neurodiversity affects the performance of engineering students largely due to the field’s often narrow focus and rigid adherence to traditional instruction and assessment. For the inclusive classroom to provide the opportunity of success for all students, re-thinking and re-designing our courses and curricula to allow flexibility in courseware and accommodation for students’ needs is of vital importance.

With the accelerating change of pace in the 21st century, Cropley (2015) predicted that creative technological solutions will be required to deal with a large growth in new problems. The creation of future solutions can be nurtured by promoting creativity and innovation in engineering education. Solving old problems with old solutions is replication, which will not be sufficient for the future our students will encounter. Recent studies have suggested that neurodiverse students possess creative problem-solving skills which can contribute to provide new technological solutions to the engineering discipline. Re-designs of the Statics course have been proposed to accommodate neurodiverse students, with the prospect that increasing diversity and promoting creative problem-solving skills have the potential to be beneficial for the Civil Engineering (CE) profession.

The objective of this paper is to report a re-design procedure of the Statics course to accommodate neurodiverse students and improve the effectiveness of course instruction in the online distance learning environment, while maintaining academic effectiveness. The procedure includes implementing seven universal design of instructions (UDI) principles and strength-based final project options. The UDI implementation and final project description and rubrics are provided. A work in progress report was previously presented and this paper will provide a complete work. Since Fall 2020, this course has been offered for 3 consecutive semesters. The first cohort in Fall 2020 has 2 groups: 1 comparison group and 1 experimental group. The second cohort in Spring 2021 has 1 experimental group; the third cohort in Fall 2021 has 1 experimental group. Each semester a formative evaluation regarding the UDI implementation has been conducted for the experimental group. For all sections, the summative students’ evaluations of teaching (SET) were conducted at the end of the semester, and the results from all sections were compared. This paper will report the implementation results of the re-design for consecutive 3 semesters, summarize the impacts and challenges, and provide insight to apply the re-design scheme to other institutions.
AU - Shinae Jang
CY - Minneapolis, MN
DA - 2022/08/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Re-design of a Large Statics Course to Forster Creativity and Inclusion
UR - https://peer.asee.org/41375
DO - 10.18260/1-2--41375
ER -