Paper Authors

Abstract

NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

Session 2666

The Compression of Statics: Is there a Difference Between Summer Session and the Academic Year?

Marie Dillon Dahleh†,‡, Glenn E. Beltz‡ † College of Engineering / ‡ Department of Mechanical Engineering University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106

abstract

The Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara recently instituted a Summer session in which courses normally taught over a ten-week quarter are taught in six weeks. The purpose is to allow students to complete multiple-course sequences during one Summer session. We chose to include Statics, Dynamics, and Strength of Materials in the Summer since they are pivotal courses in our curriculum. Our study targets the Statics course and addresses whether the concentration of material into a six-week session affects students’ ability to achieve the desired learning outcomes. We have constructed an assessment program that consists of student focus groups, student surveys, an analysis of the performance and retention of students subsequent to taking Statics, and a standardized quiz administered to students approximately two years after taking the course. In this contribution, we discuss the assessment instruments in detail and our evaluation results to date. We have analyzed data from three ten-week offerings of Statics and three six-week offerings from 2001 to 2003. Our objective is to develop strategies that will minimize any negative, long-term effects of compressing course material and to build confidence in our program as the Summer quarter continues to expand at the University of California.

introduction and background

Prior to the Summer of 2001, the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara offered all required classes for the major once per year. If students fell behind, even in one mathematics class, they were required to take a fifth year of classes to complete the degree. Some students took advantage of the Department of Mathematics offerings in the Summer, but not all.

Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering Education

• Citation

• Format
  • APA
  • APA - LaTeX bibitem
  • MLA
  • MLA - LaTeX bibitem
  • Bibtex
  • EndNote - RIS

Beltz, G., & Dahleh, M. (2004, June), The Compression Of Statics: Is There A Difference Between Summer Session And The Academic Year? Paper presented at 2004 Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--13074