2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

As the Stanford Aeronautics & Astronautics project-based Spacecraft Design ‘Capstone’ course returned to in-person instruction, online learning elements that were introduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic were retained to create a hybrid course format. Students were provided with build-it-yourself nano-satellite kits and a range of online technology tools, to work together in teams to solve legitimate ‘mission’ challenges, such as designing a nano-satellite and the mission parameters needed to explore the atmosphere of Mars. Prior evaluation of the use and efficacy of these kits and tools in the previous online course iteration, using Puentedura’s Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition (SAMR) framework, identified elements beneficial for engaging students in experiential learning. These elements were combined with in-person instruction, to create the 2021-2022 hybrid iteration of the Capstone course. This paper explores how the kits and tools were used within the hybrid Capstone course to facilitate students’ engagement with experiential learning and to build communities of practice, and examined their value in supporting students learning. The paper investigated three key pedagogical questions:

1. How do the kits and tools engage students in experiential learning in the hybrid course?
2. How do the kits and tools support students to build a community of practice in the hybrid course?
3. How effective are these compared to the prior online iteration of the courses?

This case study explores these questions through pre- and post-course survey instruments administered to 16 students in the 2021-2022 Spacecraft Design Capstone course, and semi-structured interviews with the course instructors. The class size of 16 included the students in the Aeronautics & Astronautics undergraduate program cohort, which is a smaller program only inaugurated in 2017, along with graduate students taking the Capstone course as an optional course in their Aeronautics & Astronautics Masters program. Students’ self-evaluated engineering competencies were quantitatively analyzed, finding that overall students’ use of kits increased their confidence in their engineering skills, with the most gains seen in developing and integrating electronic components into a complete system, followed by troubleshooting, and in designing a new subsystem or component to meet specified requirements. Puentedura’s SAMR framework was used to interpret the evolution of the use of kits and tools as the course iterated into the hybrid version. Students’ use of technology tools in the hybrid format were used largely as substitutions and augmentations to in-person activities, particularly when seeking support with troubleshooting, and kits were used to modify the tasks needed to tailor to student teams’ chosen space ‘missions’. The hybrid format of the Capstone course proved beneficial in engaging students in experiential learning, being more effective in providing students with a combination of ways to engage with the kits and to connect to communities of practice for student teams and instructors to work together. Future iterations of the course will continue to explore how kits and other technology tools contribute to the hybrid course format while providing students with opportunities to form communities of practice and engage in experiential learning. This case study highlights opportunities for future research into how the use of kits and tools in an Aeronautics & Astronautics undergraduate capstone course can support and enhance student learning.