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A Multi-Year Comparison of Student Performance in an Adaptive and Inverted Classroom Versus a Traditional Learning Environment

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Conference

2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Minneapolis, MN

Publication Date

August 23, 2022

Start Date

June 26, 2022

End Date

June 29, 2022

Conference Session

ERM: Exploring Educational Technology in Engineering

Page Count

16

DOI

10.18260/1-2--40528

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/40528

Download Count

459

Paper Authors

biography

Erik Hurlen University of Washington

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Dr. Erik Hurlen currently holds an associate teaching professor position in the department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the University of Washington. He has also taught Mechanical Engineering course at both San Diego State University and the University of Mississippi. Prior to this, he held adjunct professor status at several San Diego colleges, teaching Physics, Mathematics, and Engineering courses. After completing his Ph.D., Dr. Hurlen held a post-doctoral position at the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales near Paris, France, where he worked on the aerodynamic analysis of future rocket designs.

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Abstract

This evidence-based practice paper is the culmination of a multi-year study involving a comparison of two distinct learning environments. New educational technologies are constantly emerging and evolving. One of the latest advances is adaptive courseware, which has the ability to tailor the assignments to each student’s individual needs based on their own learning style, comprehension rate, prior knowledge base, and many other factors. An examination of student data on performance and retention spanning five years has been conducted in an undergraduate engineering fluid mechanics course. This study compares the results of a traditional learning environment to one which used a novel combination of adaptive courseware and an inverted classroom. Overall student performance increased, indicating that adaptive courseware in combination with an inverted classroom is a more efficient teaching methodology than the traditional lecture setting. Increases in overall class average, number of A’s, and highest grade were found. Additionally, a survey of the students indicated that they preferred the new methodology as a whole. However, there were also negative effects as the number of D and F grades increased, as well the retention rate in the class decreased with the new methodology. These few negative results were somewhat counterintuitive, as this new methodology was primarily developed to assist underperforming students. Possible causes of these downsides are proposed, as well as future directions of this research.

Hurlen, E. (2022, August), A Multi-Year Comparison of Student Performance in an Adaptive and Inverted Classroom Versus a Traditional Learning Environment Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40528

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