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Impact of a Sketch-based Tutoring System at Multiple Universities

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Conference

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Location

Virtual On line

Publication Date

June 22, 2020

Start Date

June 22, 2020

End Date

June 26, 2021

Conference Session

Teaching Statics: What and How?

Tagged Division

Mechanics

Page Count

14

DOI

10.18260/1-2--34750

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/34750

Download Count

407

Paper Authors

biography

Vimal Kumar Viswanathan San Jose State University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-2984-0025

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Dr. Vimal Viswanathan is an assistant professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at San Jose State University. His research interests include design theory, design automation, design for X and engineering education. His engineering education work includes the application of brain-based learning protocols in engineering education, technology-assisted education, problem-based learning, and improving spatial visualization skills.

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Josh Taylor Hurt

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Josh Hurt is a first year graduate research student in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technological, where he received his Bachelors degree in the spring of 2020 . He has been working in the IDREEM lab under the guidance of Dr. Julie Linsey for most of his career at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Josh has been a part of the research into Maker Spaces and Engineering Education conducted within the IDREEM lab, and is currently focusing on Engineering Education.

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Tracy Anne Hammond Texas A&M University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-7272-0507

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Director of the Sketch Recognition Lab and Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University, Dr. Hammond is an international leader in sketch recognition, haptics, intelligent fabrics, SmartPhone development, and computer human interaction research. Dr. Hammond’s publications on the subjects are widely cited and have well over a thousand citations, with Dr. Hammond having an h-index of 23, an h10-index of 65, and multiple papers with over 200 citations each. Her research has been funded by NSF, DARPA, Google, and many others, totaling over 9 million dollars in peer reviewed funding. She holds a PhD in Computer Science and FTO (Finance Technology Option) from MIT, and four degrees from Columbia University: an M.S in Anthropology, an M.S. in Computer Science, a B.A. in Mathematics, and a B.S. in Applied Mathematics. Prior to joining the TAMU CSE faculty Dr. Hammond taught for five years at Columbia University and was a telecom analyst for four years at Goldman Sachs. Dr Hammond is the 2011-2012 recipient of the Charles H. Barclay, Jr. '45 Faculty Fellow Award. The Barclay Award is given to professors and associate professors who have been nominated for their overall contributions to the Engineering Program through classroom instruction, scholarly activities, and professional service.

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Benjamin W. Caldwell LeTourneau University

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Benjamin W. Caldwell, Associate Provost for Academic Administration and Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at LeTourneau University, earned his B.S. (2007), M.S. (2009), and Ph.D. (2011) degrees from Clemson University, each in Mechanical Engineering. Caldwell served for five years in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at LeTourneau University where he taught courses in statics, dynamics, mechanics of materials, engineering design, and mechanisms and kinematics, among others, and conducted research in the areas of design and education. His research interests include validation of design methods, design creativity, idea generation, and engineering education. Caldwell collaborates with a variety of disciplines, including psychology, education, and theology, in both teaching and research, and has received both internal and external funding for this work. Caldwell also served as president of the teaching faculty at LeTourneau before moving to an administrative role. He is a member of ASME and ASEE.

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Kimberly Grau Talley P.E. Texas State University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-6235-0706

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Dr. Kimberly G. Talley is an associate professor in the Department of Engineering Technology, Bobcat Made Makerspace Director at Texas State University, and a licensed Professional Engineer. She received her Ph.D. and M.S.E. from the University of Texas at Austin in Structural Engineering. Her undergraduate degrees in History and in Construction Engineering and Management are from North Carolina State University. Dr. Talley teaches courses in the Construction Science and Management and Civil Engineering Technology Programs, and her research focus is in student engagement and retention in engineering and engineering technology education. Contact: talley@txstate.edu

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Julie S. Linsey Georgia Institute of Technology

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Dr. Julie S. Linsey is an Associate Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technological. Dr. Linsey received her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at The University of Texas. Her research area is design cognition including systematic methods and tools for innovative design with a particular focus on concept generation and design-by-analogy. Her research seeks to understand designers’ cognitive processes with the goal of creating better tools and approaches to enhance engineering design. She has authored over 150 technical publications including over forty journal papers, and ten book chapters.

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Abstract

Introductory engineering courses at large universities often number over a hundred students, while online classes can have even larger enrollments, significantly constraining instructors’ ability to provide feedback on homework, including the free-body diagrams (FBDs). Most online homework systems do not provide feedback on FBDs if the systems even allow the submission, and instructors often lack time or resources to provide this. A few systems have been developed that use a menu-based system allowing students to creative FBDs. There is a growing concern amongst engineering educators that student lacks critical sketching skills and the ability to idealize a real-world system as a free body diagram (FBD). A sketch-recognition based tutoring system, Mechanix, allows learners to hand-draw solutions just as they would with pencil and paper, while also providing iterative real-time personalized feedback. Sketch recognition algorithms use artificial intelligence to identify the shapes, their relationships, and other features of the sketched student drawing. Other AI algorithms then determine if and why a student’s work is incorrect, enabling the tutoring system to return immediate and iterative personalized feedback facilitating student learning that is otherwise not possible in large classes. Preliminary results using Mechanix, a sketch-based statics tutoring system built at Texas A&M University suggest that a sketch-based tutoring system increases homework motivation in struggling students and is as effective as paper-and-pencil-based homework for teaching method of joints truss analysis. The current project implements Mechanix at five different universities obtaining Pre/Post Concept Inventory, homework, and exam scores. It is compared against either the university's current online system or paper-based homework. Focus groups provide further insight into the students’ perceptions about the impact of Mechanix on their learning.

Viswanathan, V. K., & Hurt, J. T., & Hammond, T. A., & Caldwell, B. W., & Talley, K. G., & Linsey, J. S. (2020, June), Impact of a Sketch-based Tutoring System at Multiple Universities Paper presented at 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual On line . 10.18260/1-2--34750

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