Online Matlab/Octave tutorial to help non-computer science engineering students improve programming skills

Maria Pantoja; Drazen Fabris; Aaron Melman

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Conference: 2017 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting
Location: Tempe, Arizona
Publication Date: April 20, 2017
Start Date: April 20, 2017
End Date: April 22, 2017
Conference Session: Technical Session 3c
Tagged Topics: Diversity and Pacific Southwest Section
Page Count: 8
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--29229
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/29229
Download Count: 1357

Paper Authors

biography

Maria Pantoja California Polytechnic State University san Luis Obispo

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Maria Pantoja
Computer Engineering
Computer Science & Software Engineering
Office: 14-211
Phone Number: 805-756-1330
Email: mpanto01@calpoly.edu
Homepage:
https://cpe.calpoly.edu/faculty/mpanto01/
Biography
B.S., Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Spain
Ph.D., Santa Clara University

Research Interests
High Performance Computing
Neural-Electronics
Parallel Computing

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Drazen Fabris Santa Clara University

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Aaron Melman Santa Clara University

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Abstract

The goal of the project is to integrate interactive tutorials into engineering classes to support students' knowledge, facility, and prior experience with programming. Research1 has shown benefits in using tutorials via mobile and web applications to better engage students and help them learn at their own pace and level. The programming platform will be Matlab/Octave2 which is a programming language initially developed for numerical computations. It is widely used across industry and academia and research institutions. Knowledge in Matlab/Octave is required in many of the engineering job openings, which makes it a very important technical skill that our students have to master for a successful career as engineers. Knowledge of programming and specifically Matlab is a prerequisite for several classes taught at the Schools of Engineering around the country and a Matlab course or equivalent is mandatory for many mechanical and bioengineering students. Just one course (10 weeks, in a quarter system) is clearly not enough to learn to program effectively. To achieve true proficiency, subsequent classes should routinely exercise prior programming skills and techniques. This is especially difficult since the current Matlab course is taken by most students in their freshman/sophomore year, while the required classes using Matlab are usually taken in later years. Students typically remember very little of Matlab and this leads to difficulties on homework and class projects and necessitates significant amount of class time and office hours for reviewing programming concepts. The challenge is to maintain the curriculum for the later classes -what is being learned- while enhancing the learning experience through on-line support of programming concepts. Use of the proposed tool will encourage active participation, provide prompt feedback, and pose challenging but achievable goals. This project will allow students who need review or develop proficiency to work on their own time and at their own pace by following our on-line tutorial. The tutorial will cover the most important programming concepts needed for the later classes. Therefore, the tutorial, while reviewing general programming concepts, will also be targeted to the specific class, and the instructor in charge of the class will be able to create his own content.

Outcome: 1.Online Interactive tutorial 2. Forum with ranking system to enhance response

Methods of assessment: Compare quizzes, midterm scores used in previous years (no video game used) to quizzes taken after students use the video game to visualize some of the most difficult concepts. We will also use student’s teaching evaluation comments to find out if there is an overall improvement in the learning experience. To evaluate the long-term effects, we compare the test results of upper division classes that require programming skills before and after the introduction of the tutorial/forum.

Citation
Format

Pantoja, M., & Fabris, D., & Melman, A. (2017, April), Online Matlab/Octave tutorial to help non-computer science engineering students improve programming skills Paper presented at 2017 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting, Tempe, Arizona. 10.18260/1-2--29229

TY - CPAPER
AB - The goal of the project is to integrate interactive tutorials into engineering classes to support students&#39; knowledge, facility, and prior experience with programming. Research1 has shown benefits in using tutorials via mobile and web applications to better engage students and help them learn at their own pace and level. The programming platform will be Matlab/Octave2 which is a programming language initially developed for numerical computations. It is widely used across industry and academia and research institutions. Knowledge in Matlab/Octave is required in many of the engineering job openings, which makes it a very important technical skill that our students have to master for a successful career as engineers.
Knowledge of programming and specifically Matlab is a prerequisite for several classes taught at the Schools of Engineering around the country and a Matlab course or equivalent is mandatory for many mechanical and bioengineering students. Just one course (10 weeks, in a quarter system) is clearly not enough to learn to program effectively. To achieve true proficiency, subsequent classes should routinely exercise prior programming skills and techniques. This is especially difficult since the current Matlab course is taken by most students in their freshman/sophomore year, while the required classes using Matlab are usually taken in later years. Students typically remember very little of Matlab and this leads to difficulties on homework and class projects and necessitates significant amount of class time and office hours for reviewing programming concepts. The challenge is to maintain the curriculum for the later classes -what is being learned- while enhancing the learning experience through on-line support of programming concepts. Use of the proposed tool will encourage active participation, provide prompt feedback, and pose challenging but achievable goals.
This project will allow students who need review or develop proficiency to work on their own time and at their own pace by following our on-line tutorial. The tutorial will cover the most important programming concepts needed for the later classes. Therefore, the tutorial, while reviewing general programming concepts, will also be targeted to the specific class, and the instructor in charge of the class will be able to create his own content.

Outcome:
1.Online Interactive tutorial
2. Forum with ranking system to enhance response

Methods of assessment: Compare quizzes, midterm scores used in previous years (no video game used) to quizzes taken after students use the video game to visualize some of the most difficult concepts. We will also use student’s teaching evaluation comments to find out if there is an overall improvement in the learning experience. To evaluate the long-term effects, we compare the test results of upper division classes that require programming skills before and after the introduction of the tutorial/forum.

AU - Maria Pantoja
AU - Drazen Fabris
AU - Aaron Melman
CY - Tempe, Arizona
DA - 2017/04/20
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Online Matlab/Octave tutorial to help non-computer science engineering students improve programming skills
UR - https://peer.asee.org/29229
DO - 10.18260/1-2--29229
ER -