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Effective Use of Videos to Enhance the Teaching and Learning of Environmental Engineering

Jianpeng Zhou, Ph.D., P.E., DEE

Department of Civil Engineering, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Edwardsville, IL, USA 62026-1800 Email: jzhou@siue.edu

Abstract

Three environmental engineering courses offered at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville involve in the teaching of water treatment subjects. In the past, field trips to local water treatment plants helped students to relate the knowledge they learned in the classroom to real-world applications. Since 9/11/2001, water treatment plants are closed to visits of the general public. Furthermore, increased students’ participations in the teaching process are needed to improve the effectiveness of students’ learning. This paper reports the experience and findings of a project where videos of water treatment subjects were used and integrated in the instructional activities of these courses. The impacts of videos on students’ learning were assessed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Bloom’s taxonomy on learning levels was used to design the assessment questions for each course. This project found that the use of appropriately selected videos improved the learning environment, increased students interests in learning by promoting active students participation in the learning process, promoted high levels of learning and naturally broke long class session into small attention units, where the effectiveness of student learning were increased. The use of videos also overcame the limitation of lack of field trip opportunities and helped to bring real-world applications to the classroom.

Introduction

Environmental engineering is one of the three primary areas offered in the Department of Civil Engineering at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE). Three environmental engineering courses offered at SIUE involve in the teaching of water treatment subjects. They are CE 380, a required introductory course; CE 487, an elective design course; and CE 592, a graduate course. Annual enrollment of these courses is approximately 80. In the past, there were field trip opportunities to visit local water treatment plants, which helped students to relate the knowledge they learned in the classroom to real-world applications. Since 9/11/2001, as a security measure, municipalities across the country have closed water treatment plants to visits of the general public. Furthermore, increased students’ participations in the teaching process are needed to improve the effectiveness of students’ learning. To response to above challenges, the author carried out a project, sponsored by a SIUE teaching enhancement grant, to assess if videos of water treatment subjects could be used to create significant and positive impacts on students’ learning experience in these courses. This paper reported the experience and findings of this project.

Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Education

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Zhou, J. (2005, June), Effective Use Of Videos To Enhance The Teaching And Learning Of Environmental Engineering Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--14893