2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Lessons Learned from a Game-Based Learning Intervention in Civil Engineering

Presented at Committee on Effective Teaching Presents: Teaching Mode Active-ated

The aim of our project is to create a scalable and sustainable educational model of mixed reality gaming in civil engineering education that provides practical experiences, develops engineering judgment competency, and engages a diverse student audience. Specifically, we have been building a game-based learning module focused on experiencing the field testing technique cone-penetration testing (CPT). As part of the module, students start a virtual internship at a fictional engineering company. After being briefed through a lecture on CPT, they enter a 3D (game) environment where they conduct CPTs. Students analyze CPT data extracted from the environment and submit a report. To assess student experience of this module, we collected pre/post surveys, game data (including in-game assessments), and student/faculty interviews. In this paper, we report the findings of implementing this CPT module in the initial three years of the project (2016-2019) at five institutions. Overall, we find that students are engaged, especially women and students from historically marginalized communities, increase their knowledge and confidence in the subject matter, and find the module valuable to gain much-needed (field) experience. More recently, we find that the game-based learning intervention seems resilient and, in fact, a solid solution to the disturbances caused by the pandemic, with many students providing positive remarks about being able to experience hands-on learning, which is key to quality engineering education and difficult to achieve through online education. Opportunities for improvement exist regarding access to technology, as well as the instructional design. While we demonstrate the scalability of this approach across multiple institutions and classrooms, open questions remain on how to transform institutions to embed game-based learning not as an intervention but as a key part of the curriculum.

Authors
  1. Dr. Casper Harteveld Northeastern University [biography]
  2. Victoria Bennett Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
  3. Dr. Usama El Shamy, P.E. Southern Methodist University [biography]
  4. Dr. Binod Tiwari California State University, Fullerton [biography]
  5. Dr. Anirban De, P.E. Manhattan College
  6. Kejun Wen Jackson State University [biography]
  7. Dr. David A Saftner University of Minnesota Duluth [biography]
  8. Prof. Beena Ajmera Iowa State University
  9. Scott Brandenberg University of California, Los Angeles [biography]
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