Mississippi State University, Mississippi
March 9, 2025
March 9, 2025
March 11, 2025
Professional Papers
8
10.18260/1-2--54143
https://peer.asee.org/54143
26
Dr. Simon Ghanat is an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at The Citadel (Charleston, S.C.). He received his Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Arizona State University. His research interests include Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Education.
Dr. Mostafa Batouli is an Assistant Professor of Construction Engineering in the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at The Citadel. Dr. Batouli received his PhD in Civil Engineering from Florida International University. He also holds Master of Public Administration and Graduate Certificate in Homeland Security and Emergency Management from FIU, Master of Science in Civil Engineering/Construction Engineering and Management from IAU, and Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering/Surveying from University of Tehran. Dr. Batouli is a Professional Engineer (PE) registered in SC. He also holds Project Management Professional (PMP) international certificate. Dr. Batouli teaches diverse range of courses in civil engineering, construction engineering, and construction/project management. As a teacher, he aims to inspire his students to think intensively and critically and to live ethically and morally. Dr. Batouli received Harry Saxe Teaching award in 2022 based on students' votes and students evaluation of instruction.
His previous research has resulted in more than 30 referred journal and conference publications as well as five research reports. His past research received major awards and honors including a third-place best poster award from the construction research congress and a Dissertation Year Fellowship from Florida International University in 2016.
William J. Davis is Dept. Head & D. Graham Copeland Professor of Civil Engineering and Director of Construction Engineering at The Citadel in Charleston, SC. His academic experience includes: transportation infrastructure planning and design, infrastruct
Tony Songer is known internationally for seminal research investigating the use of design-build as an alternative delivery system. His most recent research interest is in leadership in construction, particularly the need for integrating technical competen
Pre-class activities, such as readings, videos, or assessments, engage students with content before class, potentially enhancing their learning. At University ‘X’, web-based reading responses were implemented in Engineering Economy, Mechanics of Materials, and Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering courses to encourage students’ preparation for lessons. In the experimental sections, students answered two or three open-ended questions on the course website before each class. These responses were used to tailor in-class activities to better address students' needs. This study compares test performance between students who completed these pre-class responses and those who did not, with both groups being taught by the same instructor and following the same learning objectives and assessments. Preliminary results show that the experimental group outperformed their peers on both midterm and final exams. Additionally, a significant positive correlation was found between students’ pre-class response scores and their exam performance.
Divisions: Civil Engineering
Ghanat, S. T., & Batouli, M., & Davis, W. J., & Doeffinger, T., & Songer, A. (2025, March), An Investigation into the Effectiveness of Web-based Pre-Class Reading Responses Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Southeast Conference , Mississippi State University, Mississippi. 10.18260/1-2--54143
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