Salt Lake City, Utah
June 23, 2018
June 23, 2018
July 27, 2018
Mechanics
16
10.18260/1-2--30980
https://strategy.asee.org/30980
287
Kimberly B. Demoret, Ph.D., P.E., teaches Statics and Aerospace Engineering Capstone Design at the Florida Institute of Technology. Prior to joining Florida Tech in 2015, she worked for eight years at Kennedy Space Center on development of launch systems in support of NASA's space exploration goals. Before that she was a US Air Force officer for 20 years, supporting several aerospace programs as a developmental engineer and manager.
Jennifer Schlegel serves as a Research Professional with the Harris Institute for Assured Information within Florida Tech's College of Engineering and Computing. Dr. Schlegel has always explored broad, multi-disciplinary engineering solutions. Building on an engineering mechanics foundation from Virginia Tech's Engineering Science and Mechanics degree program and then continuing at The Johns Hopkins University to earn her Doctorate and Masters in Materials Science and Engineering studying nondestructive electromagnetic techniques for materials characterization. Delivering unique mission solutions to government customers as a federal contractor and serving as a FIRST mentor catalyzed a desire to shape our next generation of engineering talent. Returning to academia from industry in 2015, Dr. Schlegel enjoys leveraging her professional experiences to create innovative curricular and co-curricular experiences for engineering and computing students.
Dr. Matthew J. Jensen received his bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in 2006. Matthew received his doctorate from Clemson University in 2011 in Mechanical Engineering, focused primarily on automotive control systems and dynamics. During his graduate studies, Matthew was awarded the Department of Mechanical Engineering Endowed Teaching Fellowship. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and the ProTrack Co-Op Coordinator at Florida Institute of Technology. His research interests include applications in automotive/transportation safety, electro-mechanical systems, data analysis strategies and techniques, dynamic modeling, and engineering education.
At the Florida Institute of Technology, multiple sections of Statics are offered each fall semester, each taught by a different instructor. Though all sections cover the same topics within the same textbook, students often perceive the course sections differently. Different combinations of online and paper homework formats were used, and the problems assigned varied in volume, implementation, and complexity. In each section, different pedagogies were used, and the depth to which some topics were covered varied with the instructor. Because each section took different exams graded by different instructors, there was no uniform measure of students’ preparedness levels for later engineering mechanics courses. This paper describes efforts to improve consistency across sections by implementing a common course framework developed by the instructors teaching the different sections. This framework includes common online and on-paper homework assignments, and a common final exam with a communal grading strategy where all students, regardless of section, had their problems graded by the same instructor. Though each faculty member was free to employ different pedagogies within the common framework, all made a commitment to increase active learning strategies in the classroom. Student perceptions of the common framework were obtained using an end-of-course survey, and student performance on the common final exam and a basic skills test were compared across sections. Instructor perceptions about the challenges and benefits of moving towards commonality are also discussed.
Demoret, K. B., & Schlegel, J., & Jensen, M. J. (2018, June), Standardizing the Statics Curriculum Across Multiple Instructors Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--30980
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