Evaluation of Online Learning in a First-year Engineering Design Course
- Conference
- Location
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Salt Lake City, Utah
- Publication Date
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June 23, 2018
- Start Date
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June 23, 2018
- End Date
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July 27, 2018
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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First-Year Programs
- Page Count
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10
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--30453
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/30453
- Download Count
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638
Paper Authors
Liang Li Wu University of California, Irvine
Liang (Lily) Wu is the Director of Academic Innovation, Programs at the Henry Samueli School of Engineering, University of California, Irvine. Dr. Wu is responsible for implementing, overseeing and assessing the first-year engineering program and international programs to enhance and support the engineering education at the School of Engineering. Dr. Wu received her Ph.D. degree in Material Science and Engineering from the University of California, Irvine with primary research focuses on the design, development and integration of microfluidic systems for biomedical applications.
Christian Fischer University of California, Irvine
Christian Fischer, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral scholar at the Teaching and Learning Research Center at the University of California, Irvine. His research examines how digital technologies help improve teaching and learning processes in STEM education.
Fernando Rodriguez University of California, Irvine
Fernando Rodriguez, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral scholar in the School of Education at UC Irvine. His research examines learning and memory, thinking and reasoning, and online learning environments in higher education settings.
Gregory N. Washington University of California, Irvine
Gregory Washington is Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Stacey Nicolas Dean of the Henry Samueli School of Engineering at the University of California Irvine. Professor Washington has been involved in multidomain research for more than 25 years. He is the first African-American Dean of Engineering at any of the University of California, Campuses. His core area of interest lies in the area of dynamic systems: modeling and control. During this time he has been involved in the following applications: the design and control of mechanically actuated antennas, advanced control of machine tools, the design and control of Hybrid Electric Vehicles, and structural position and vibration control with smart materials. He has written more than 150 technical publications in journals, edited volumes, and conference proceedings and is internationally known for his research on ultra-lightweight structurally active antenna systems and other structures that involve the use of “smart materials”. Professor Washington has served on several advisory boards to include the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board and the National Science Foundation Engineering Advisory Board. He currently serves on the Pubic Policy Committee of the ASEE Engineering Deans Council. Professor Washington received his BS, MS and PhD degrees from NC State.
Abstract
This evidence based practice paper evaluates an online project-based design engineering course. Because of increasing enrollments in engineering courses, class facilities on campus cannot accommodate for additional students. Adding to this problem is that universities may simply not have enough instructors to offer additional course sections to accommodate class growth. Therefore, online learning may be one pathway to address this problem. We examined a first-year engineering course, which consisted of both lecture and lab sections. In this course, students designed, built and tested a remote controlled and an autonomous device over the duration of two quarters. The online course used pre-recorded lectures and covered all theoretical content related to the design project. A traditional/in-person lecture course was simultaneously offered to a separate cohort of students who had attended all lectures in-person. Students from the online and the in-person lecture course both participated in lab sessions, instructed by teaching assistants. We evaluated the online class by student self-assessed surveys to gauge what course features students valued in an experiential-learning engineering design course, and whether a similar learning experience could be provided in comparison to the in-person class. Student performance was also measured by comparing the overall grades between the in-person and online sections.
Wu, L. L., & Fischer, C., & Rodriguez, F., & Washington, G. N. (2018, June), Evaluation of Online Learning in a First-year Engineering Design Course Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--30453
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