Bringing Experiential Learning into the Online Classroom: A Mechanics of Materials Course Case Study

David Brian Dittenber; Allyson Jo Barlow

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Conference: 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Publication Date: June 24, 2017
Start Date: June 24, 2017
End Date: June 28, 2017
Conference Session: Learning Environments for Statics, Dynamics, and Mechanics of Materials
Tagged Division: Mechanics
Page Count: 14
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--27979
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/27979
Download Count: 567

Paper Authors

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David Brian Dittenber LeTourneau University

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Dr. David Dittenber is an assistant professor of civil engineering at LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas. He earned his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering at LeTourneau and spent a year teaching high school math and science. He then attended West Virginia University, where he earned his master's and doctoral degrees in civil engineering, with a research focus on the use of composite materials in infrastructure. Dr. Dittenber chose to return to his alma mater to teach, largely because of LeTourneau's reputation of being a hands-on, undergraduate-centric, teaching-focused engineering program.

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Allyson Jo Barlow Oregon State University

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Ally Ironside is a recent graduate from LeTourneau University where she studied Water Resources in Civil Engineering. She is currently fusing her technical background with her passion for education in pursuing a doctoral degree in Civil Engineering while conducting research in Engineering Education at Oregon State University. Her research interests include the adoption of teaching best practices in engineering and the personal epistemology development of students.

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Abstract

An online Mechanics of Materials course offered last summer was designed to include several unique components intended to facilitate experiential learning in a manner more typically found in some traditional classroom-delivery courses. Course outcomes included expectations that, upon completion of the course, students would be able to “distinguish numerous real-life applications for mechanics of materials principles,” “differentiate between axial, torsional, and flexural/shear load cases and their applications,” and “theorize loading and deformations prior to performing calculations,” among others. In addition to video lecture and example materials, course innovations aimed at achieving these outcomes included: a small project involving students' evaluation of mechanics principles in their surroundings with a peer review, an analysis of a case of historical importance in which a failure related to mechanics of materials occurred, and the delivery of a physical activity kit to each student filled with demonstration materials relevant to the concepts of the course. The course was offered to a small group of students during the summer semester as an option for students who needed to fulfill a Mechanics of Materials prerequisite prior to the fall semester.

Student perceptions about the efficacy of the tools and projects at meeting the goal of increasing connections between course concepts and real world applications were collected through a brief survey of participating students. Based on the results of the survey, students appear to self-identify that both small projects and several of the materials available in the physical kit (such as a foam beam/column, a foam torsion member, and cube representing the 3D state of stress, all with strategic markings or modifications) contributed positively to their connections between the course concepts and real world applications. Several students opted not to use the materials in the physical kit, indicating a potential need for an adjusted approach in future iterations of the course, but nearly all students acknowledged that they saw a potential benefit of the hands-on experience it offered. Student feedback through free-response also included recommendations, such as increased interaction opportunities between course participants and the replacement of written instructions with video demonstrations showing how to make the best use of the items in the physical kit. This paper will include a summary of the course innovations used, the results of student feedback collected through surveys, and recommendations for the development of future experiential online engineering courses.

Citation
Format

Dittenber, D. B., & Barlow, A. J. (2017, June), Bringing Experiential Learning into the Online Classroom: A Mechanics of Materials Course Case Study Paper presented at 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, Ohio. 10.18260/1-2--27979

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - An online Mechanics of Materials course offered last summer was designed to include several unique components intended to facilitate experiential learning in a manner more typically found in some traditional classroom-delivery courses. Course outcomes included expectations that, upon completion of the course, students would be able to “distinguish numerous real-life applications for mechanics of materials principles,” “differentiate between axial, torsional, and flexural/shear load cases and their applications,” and “theorize loading and deformations prior to performing calculations,” among others. In addition to video lecture and example materials, course innovations aimed at achieving these outcomes included: a small project involving students&#39; evaluation of mechanics principles in their surroundings with a peer review, an analysis of a case of historical importance in which a failure related to mechanics of materials occurred, and the delivery of a physical activity kit to each student filled with demonstration materials relevant to the concepts of the course. The course was offered to a small group of students during the summer semester as an option for students who needed to fulfill a Mechanics of Materials prerequisite prior to the fall semester.

Student perceptions about the efficacy of the tools and projects at meeting the goal of increasing connections between course concepts and real world applications were collected through a brief survey of participating students. Based on the results of the survey, students appear to self-identify that both small projects and several of the materials available in the physical kit (such as a foam beam/column, a foam torsion member, and cube representing the 3D state of stress, all with strategic markings or modifications) contributed positively to their connections between the course concepts and real world applications. Several students opted not to use the materials in the physical kit, indicating a potential need for an adjusted approach in future iterations of the course, but nearly all students acknowledged that they saw a potential benefit of the hands-on experience it offered. Student feedback through free-response also included recommendations, such as increased interaction opportunities between course participants and the replacement of written instructions with video demonstrations showing how to make the best use of the items in the physical kit. This paper will include a summary of the course innovations used, the results of student feedback collected through surveys, and recommendations for the development of future experiential online engineering courses.
AU  - David Brian Dittenber
AU  - Allyson Jo Barlow
CY  - Columbus, Ohio
DA  - 2017/06/24
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Bringing Experiential Learning into the Online Classroom: A Mechanics of Materials Course Case Study
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/27979
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--27979
ER  -