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Students' Perceptions of Tablet-Enhanced Learning Environment on the Development of Communication and Critical Thinking Skills: An Interdisciplinary Study

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Conference

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

New Orleans, Louisiana

Publication Date

June 26, 2016

Start Date

June 26, 2016

End Date

June 29, 2016

ISBN

978-0-692-68565-5

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Communication Across the Divisions I

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society and Educational Research and Methods

Page Count

17

DOI

10.18260/p.25941

Permanent URL

https://strategy.asee.org/25941

Download Count

707

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Paper Authors

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Yupeng Luo California State University - Fresno

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Dr. Yupeng (Vivien) Luo is an Associate Professor in the Department of Construction Management of the Lyles College of Engineering at California State University, Fresno. She holds an M.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and a Ph.D. in Architectural Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University. Her research interests include sustainable building solutions, building performance measurement, decision-making & optimization, service-learning and community engagement. Dr. Luo is a LEED AP BD+C and a CM-BIM holder.

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biography

Wei Wu California State University - Fresno Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-7024-3812

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Dr. Wei Wu, LEED AP, CM-BIM, A.M.ASCE, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Construction Management of the Lyles College of Engineering at California State University, Fresno. He received the Bachelor of Engineering in Civil Engineering with a focus on Built Environment from Hunan University in China, the Master of Science in Environmental Change and Management at University of Oxford in the UK, and the Doctor of Philosophy in Design, Construction and Planning at University of Florida. He is an associate member of ASCE, a member of DBIA, Green Globes, and National Institute of Building Science. He is also a board member of USGBC Central California Chapter, and a Senior Fellow of the Environmental Leadership Program (ELP).

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Zhanna Bagdasarov California State University - Fresno

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"Dr. Zhanna Bagdasarov is an Assistant Professor of Management at California State University, Fresno. She received her Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Oklahoma. Her research interests focus on ethical decision making in organizational contexts, trust repair between leaders and subordinates, and the influence of emotions in the workplace. She has published her work in such outlets as Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Management History, Ethics & Behavior, Science and Engineering Ethics, and the Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics."

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Abstract

The ubiquitous presence of social media and recent advancement in mobile computing has been reshaping the higher education technology landscape, which leads to a more competency-based, learner-centered, and technology-driven learning environment. In response to this paradigm shift, Fresno State recently launched its tablet program called DISCOVERe as an aggressive initiative to break down the digital divide and explore new ways of teaching and learning. Selected course sections are offered as tablet only courses. These courses have been redesigned to provide students an enhanced learning experience.

One of the most significant learning behavior transformations in a tablet-enhanced learning environment is the active collaboration and interaction among students and instructors in class activities and course projects. In this context, how we practice communication and critical thinking may change to accommodate new formats and purposes facilitated by technology. However, at this early phase of the DISCOVERe tablet program, it remains unclear to instructors what pedagogical approaches and curriculum designs are most effective to cultivate these two critical skills and prepare students for their academic and professional careers. In this interdisciplinary study, the researchers selected three tablet courses (i.e. Construction Graphics, Green Building Design and Delivery, and Administration of Personnel) from engineering and business management curricula. Project-based learning and flipped classroom pedagogies were adopted in all three courses. Direct and indirect measures, along with associated rubrics were developed to assess the targeted student learning outcomes: (1) oral/written/graphical communication, and (2) critical thinking, in a tablet-enhanced learning environment with an emphasis on active and collaborative learning. This paper discusses students’ perceptions of the impact of the Tablet PC on engineering and business management education and provides recommendations on practical pedagogies and assessment strategies.

Luo, Y., & Wu, W., & Bagdasarov, Z. (2016, June), Students' Perceptions of Tablet-Enhanced Learning Environment on the Development of Communication and Critical Thinking Skills: An Interdisciplinary Study Paper presented at 2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana. 10.18260/p.25941

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: © 2016 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