2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Board 372: Remote Engaged Student Learning through Hands-on Internet of Things

Presented at NSF Grantees Poster Session

Remote learning environments have become integral to higher educational institutions even when most courses, particularly in STEM, have returned to face-to-face or hybrid instruction. Although the impetus for this project was the COVID-19 pandemic which forced institutions of higher education everywhere to move to an online remote teaching and learning format, and as such negatively affected STEM fields which require hands-on labs and access to instrumentation, remote learning still remains part of most courses today.
We describe continuing efforts to create learning environments and materials to support remote hands-on engaged student learning off-campus at two Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) to enable and enhance student learning beyond the institutional walls. The approach utilizes Internet of Things (IoT) kits as remote learning tools that are provided to students to allow hands-on learning experiences at students’ own chosen environment and time. Problem- and Project-based Learning approaches are utilized to achieve student learning outcomes, and equip the students with the problem-solving skills necessary in STEM fields. Team-based projects engage students from multiple disciplines and demographics to work on projects, make individual contributions, and integrate their work with that of their team members. General feedback from students has been positive. Assessment of student performance also demonstrates the effectiveness of IoT-based learning in engineering and computer science disciplines.

Authors

Dr. Lifford McLauchlan Texas A&M University, Kingsville [biography]

Dr. Lifford McLauchlan is an Associate Professor and Interim Chair in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at Texas A&M University - Kingsville, and has also worked for Raytheon, Microvision, AT&T Bell Labs, and as an ONR Distinguished Summer Faculty at SPAWAR San Diego, CA. He has over 55 publications covering areas such as adaptive and intelligent controls, robotics, an ocean wave energy converter, green technology, education, wireless sensor networks and image processing. He is a co-inventor on 3 US patents related to control systems. Dr. McLauchlan is a member of ASEE and was the 2012-2014 Chair of the Ocean and Marine Engineering Division. He is also a member of IEEE (senior member), SPIE, Eta Kappa Nu, ACES and Tau Beta Pi, and has served on the IEEE Corpus Christi Section Board in various capacities such as Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary and Membership Development Officer. Dr. McLauchlan has received the Dean’s Distinguished Service Award twice and the Dean’s Outstanding Teaching Award once for the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University-Kingsville.
Dr. David Hicks [biography]

David Hicks is an Associate Professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. Before joining TAMUK he served as Associate Professor and Department Head at Aalborg University in Esbjerg, Denmark. He has also held positions in research labs in the U.S. as well as Europe, and spent time as a research scientist in the software industry.
Dr. Mehrube Mehrubeoglu http://orcid.org/https://0000-0002-5927-8408 Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi [biography]

Dr. Mehrubeoglu received her B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin. She earned an M.S. degree in Bioengineering and Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University. She is currently an associate professor in the School of Engineering and Computing Sciences at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. She is interested in multidisciplinary research in imaging applications using a variety of imaging modalities, including thermal imaging, hyperspectral imaging, and other digital imaging that engage targeted sensors, spatial and spectral data processing, pattern recognition and classification. She has a special interest in energy generation and real-world applications, as well as pedagogical methods in teaching and learning.

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