2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Over the course of a five-year study, our NSF IUSE team created and disseminated several Low-Cost Desktop Learning Modules (LCDLMs) used to teach college students difficult engineering principles. The goal of this project was not only to allow students to experience the engineering concepts they learned about in a hands-on manner, but to allow them an opportunity to work in interactive groups in a classroom setting. This approach was inspired by Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory, which posits the triad of environmental factors, personal factors, and exhibited behaviors are all interlinked, with one influencing another. The LCDLMs were thus meant to help students visualize the concepts to be learned and create an environment where students could make observations and test hypotheses together. Afterwards, students were asked to participate in pre- and posttests to assess learning of the associated concepts, and a survey to gauge their motivation inspired by using the LCDLMs.

Now that the project has been running for several years, and data have been collected in several classrooms at universities across the country, it is worth examining whether instructors have embraced this approach to enhance their own learning as well as for the students within their classrooms. The LCDLMs were disseminated to instructors who agreed to participate via a “Hub and Spoke” model, where workshops were held in different regions at various “hubs” in the United States to instruct professors on appropriate uses of LCDLMs. Feedback was gained through post-implementation forms with written feedback submitted on a semesterly basis. The hope was to remove any barriers instructors may have in implementing LCDLMs effectively, such as lack of funds, poor technical support, insufficient information, as well as to include their suggestions about more effective strategies for using the LCDLMs and collecting test scores and survey information from their students.

In the past year, greater attempts have been made to increase transparency with participating instructors and incorporate their feedback collected during workshops and throughout the school year. Instructors have asked that the pre- and posttest results from the LCDLM activities be shared with them outside of workshops, not only to support the validity of use of the LCLCDLMs, but so the activities can be incorporated into their grade books. Additionally, we have compiled a list of “Best Practices” from both the researchers working on the project and the participants in the study to implement the LCDLMs more efficiently. However, steps need to be taken to evaluate professor implementation strategies and their perceptions on how interactions with student teams can maximize the effects of using LCDLMS to teach and learn fundamental engineering concepts. We also want to assess qualitatively our workshop interactions to ensure the LCDLMs are used in a way that maximizes their effectiveness based on the data we’ve collected thus far. Hence, in the present study we seek to collect feedback from instructors through personal interviews as well as post-implementation forms.

Finally, a glucose analyzer LCDLM is being produced, tested, and prepared for implementation, while a recently developed fluidized bed will be used for a second time in the classroom. Results from implementations will be analyzed based on pre- and posttests and motivational surveys.