2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Engineering students taking dynamics, vibrations, and control theory courses struggle to acquire a deep understanding of complex engineering concepts due to their highly mathematical nature, lack of prior knowledge, limitations of large lectures, limited resources preventing the use of commercially available lab equipment, and lack of innovative teaching tools that could be utilized to enhance learning.
Hands-on experiences are especially crucial for engineering students to help them bridge the gap between theory and application. However, commercially available laboratory equipment utilized in the mechanical vibrations and control labs are bulky and expensive. Further, one may question issues of accessibility and equity for students. The inability to work at their own pace, repeat experiments later, and develop adequate knowledge and experience from troubleshooting the equipment and resolving problems is lacking with these turnkey solutions.
Since the pandemic, digital learning tools have become necessary complements, not just accessories, to support student engagement and learning. They offer advantages to increase student learning that traditional laboratory environments cannot, including increased accessibility for students with mobility impairments. Although some open-source virtual labs are available for science courses, there are limited available virtual labs for undergraduate engineering courses, including vibrations and control theory courses.
In our previous NSF IUSE Level I project (Award #2002350), we developed seven vibrations and one control lab equipment that are low-cost and 3D-Printed along with their learning activities. Learning activities for each tool use a modified POGIL (Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning) approach grounded in constructivist theory. They include an orientation to why content was important to learn, clear learning objectives, performance criteria for the learning process, exploratory prerequisite questions to activate prior knowledge, instructions for working with the devices, final critical thinking questions. Additionally, in a separate project, we developed open-source virtual labs for mechanical vibrations, control theory, and associated laboratories to support student learning of vibrations and controls concepts.
In our current NSF IUSE Level II project, we are developing additional learning experiences for students that leverage multiple representations of knowledge by combining (1) hands-on and (2) virtual simulation lab or demonstration experiences with (3) AI support embedded within a robust (4) process-oriented learning activity. These elements of the learning experience create complete learning packages that will advance student learning, enhance accessibility by increasing hands-on and virtual simulation learning experiences, and provide an affordable alternative to lab equipment. This work aims to broaden the impact on learning vibrations and controls across a diverse set of learners and learning contexts at multiple institutions.
The project has produced three new learning experiences based on new lab equipment designs and one prior design is adapted as a new classroom exercise, along with their virtual labs. The adapted design is being used in a Fall 2024 course, and the other devices are being tested for usability in multiple settings at two institutions. Data for these implementations is currently being collected. Results will address the impact on students' perceived capabilities as learners and engineers and on the achievement of intended outcomes.