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Student-Facilitated Online Discussions to Encourage Critical Thinking in Civil Engineering

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Conference

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Tampa, Florida

Publication Date

June 15, 2019

Start Date

June 15, 2019

End Date

June 19, 2019

Conference Session

It's All About the Student: Integration, Problem Solving, Critical Thinking, and Self-Efficacy

Tagged Division

Civil Engineering

Page Count

21

DOI

10.18260/1-2--33306

Permanent URL

https://strategy.asee.org/33306

Download Count

503

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Paper Authors

biography

Aliye Karabulut Ilgu Iowa State University

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Dr. Aliye Karabulut-Ilgu is a lecturer in the department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering at Iowa State University. Her background is in Curriculum and Instruction, and her research interests include online learning, hybrid learning, and technology integration in higher education.

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biography

Suhan Yao Iowa State University

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Suhan Yao works as an Instructional Design Specialist in Engineering-Las Online Learning at Iowa State University. Her research interests include online learning, curriculum design, and instructional technology.

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Abstract

Engineering education is heavily based on mathematical equations and laboratory experiences which makes it difficult to teach online as compared to other disciplines. This leads to many engineering educators to choose lecture capture—streamed and/or recorded—as a way to serve distance education students. However, this approach does not make use of the capabilities of quality online learning and fails to engage distance education students. To address this concern, an online graduate level civil engineering course was redesigned to increase interaction amongst students and engagement in the material which in return would encourage critical thinking. Through socialnetworking analysis and content analysis approaches, this study aimed to explore patterns of interaction and level of critical thinking during student-facilitated online discussions.Analysis of the results indicated that online discussions increased interaction amongst students and contributed tostudents’ critical thinking skills.

Karabulut Ilgu, A., & Yao, S. (2019, June), Student-Facilitated Online Discussions to Encourage Critical Thinking in Civil Engineering Paper presented at 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Tampa, Florida. 10.18260/1-2--33306

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