2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Board 341: Mobile Learning in STEM: A Case Study in an Undergraduate Engineering Course

Presented at NSF Grantees Poster Session

Student-centered educational system is needed for better educational outcomes. Technology enabled pedagogy has helped immensely during the pandemic times when rapid transition to remote learning was essential. This poster reports findings on year one of a two-year research study to utilize mobile technologies and a technology-enhanced curriculum to improve student engagement and learning in STEM undergraduate courses. This poster describes a quasi-experimental mixed methods study on implementing mobile devices (iPad and Pencil) and a technology-enhanced curriculum in an undergraduate thermal-fluids engineering course, a foundational engineering class.

The technology-enabled curriculum was fully integrated in the thermal-fluids course to deliver content and to facilitate student engagement with the content, instructor, and fellow students. This approach leveraged the social-constructivist learning theory - a connected community of learners with classroom peers and co-construction of knowledge where the instructor’s role is that of a subject matter expert who facilitates learning. To examine the impact of mobile devices on student learning, in this two-year study (year one fall 2021 - spring 2022), the following research questions were addressed, hypothesizing improvements in the areas of engagement, enhancement of learning outcomes, and extension of learning to real-life engineering scenarios: (1) Does mobile device use facilitate engagement in thermal-fluid science course content? (Engagement), (2) Does mobile device use increase learning of identified difficult concepts in thermal-fluid science courses as indicated by increased achievement scores? (Enhancement) and (3) What are student perceptions of using mobile devices for solving real-life problems? This poster will provide an overview of the research plan and describe some preliminary research efforts based on year 1 of the project efforts. This work is supported by the NSF: Research Initiation in Engineering Formation (RIEF).

Authors

Dr. Krishna Pakala Boise State University [biography]

Krishna Pakala, Ph.D, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering at Boise State University (Boise, Idaho) where he has been since 2012. He was the Faculty in Residence for the Engineering and Innovation Living Learning Community (2014-2021). He served as the Director for the Industrial Assessment Center at Boise State University. He served as the inaugural Faculty Associate for Mobile Learning and as the Faculty Associate for Accessibility and Universal Design for Learning. He has a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wyoming (Laramie, Wyoming). He is a member of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). He is the recipient of David S. Taylor Service to Students Award and Golden Apple Award from Boise State University. He is also the recipient of ASEE Pacific Northwest Section (PNW) Outstanding Teaching Award, ASEE Mechanical Engineering division’s Outstanding New Educator Award and several course design awards. He serves as the campus representative (ASEE) for Boise State University and as the Chair for the ASEE PNW Section. His academic research interests include innovative teaching and learning strategies, use of emerging technologies, and mobile teaching and learning strategies.
Maeve Bakic Boise State University
Dr. Diana Bairaktarova Virginia Tech [biography]

Dr. Diana Bairaktarova is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. Through real-world engineering applications, Dr. Bairaktarovaâ€™s experiential learning research spans from engineering to psychology to learning
Dr. Devshikha Bose http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5880-6769 Boise State University [biography]

Devshikha Bose, Ph.D., is a Senior Educational Development Specialist at Boise State University, Idaho. Her academic research interests include just-in-time learning, online learning, flipped classrooms, hybrid learning, video-based learning objects, social media,

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