West, M., & Herman, G. L. (2014, June), Sustainable Reform of "Introductory Dynamics" Driven by a Community of Practice  Paper presented at 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Indianapolis, Indiana. 10.18260/1-2--23081

\bibitem{asee_peer_23081}
  West, M., \& Herman, G. L. (2014, June), \emph{Sustainable Reform of "Introductory Dynamics" Driven by a Community of Practice}
  Paper presented at 2014 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Indianapolis, Indiana.
  10.18260/1-2--23081

Matthew West and Geoffrey L. Herman.  "Sustainable Reform of "Introductory Dynamics" Driven by a Community of Practice".  2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Indianapolis, Indiana, 2014, June.  ASEE Conferences, 2014.  https://peer.asee.org/23081 Internet.  14 Dec, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_23081}
  Matthew West and Geoffrey L. Herman.
  "Sustainable Reform of "Introductory Dynamics" Driven by a Community of Practice".
  \emph{2014 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Indianapolis, Indiana, 2014, June}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2014.
  https://peer.asee.org/23081 Internet.  14 Dec, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_23081
author = "Matthew West and Geoffrey L. Herman"
title = "Sustainable Reform of "Introductory Dynamics" Driven by a Community of Practice"
booktitle = "2014 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2014"
month = "June"
address = "Indianapolis, Indiana"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/23081}
number = {10.18260/1-2--23081}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -       Sustainable Reform of “Introductory Dynamics”            Driven by a Community of Practice    As part of a broader effort to promote the sustainable adoption of evidence-based pedago-gies at our institution, the course “Introductory Dynamics” has been redesigned to (1) im-prove student’s low engagement and enthusiasm, (2) improve instructor’s experience andreduce their high workload, and (3) maintain and elevate the current standards for content.“Introductory Dynamics” is one of the core second-year mechanics classes in our engineer-ing curriculum, serving approximately 800 students per year. To promote sustainability ofthe reforms, the course was redesigned through a Community of Practice (CoP), consistingof faculty who collaborated closely to design and implement changes and who developedcommunal knowledge of the reforms. Evaluation of reforms focused on student satisfactionas expressed through surveys and focus groups.    To address the sustainability of reforms, many components of the course were facilitatedor automated by online technologies, including online homework assignments, online dis-cussion forums for office hours, online course notes and video recordings, and online examresults. This resulted in a reduction in instructor workload that allowed for greater emphasison student-instructor interactions.    To promote student engagement, the CoP focused on injecting context-rich, real-worldengineering problems across the course. These examples were presented in online referencematerials and served as the basis for collaborative problem solving in discussion sections.Student/TA ratios were reduced in the discussion sections to better facilitate group-workdynamics. In addition, instructors introduced active learning techniques such as iClickersinto the large lectures.    The various reforms were progressively developed and evaluated, with full implemen-tation in the Spring 2013 semester. The use of group work in discussions was initially ahighly contentious idea, with students organizing complaints and lobbying to change back toindividual work. By mid-semester, however, student opinion had dramatically shifted, withjust 11% of students expressing a desire to work in an individual setting. This favorableopinion of the new discussion format extended to a 96% student-satisfaction rating for TAs,and every one of the nine TAs appeared on the student-selected “List of Teachers Rankedas Excellent.”    The online components of the course also had good outcomes, with student satisfactionratings of 95% for the online homeworks, 87% for the help web-forum, 96% for the onlinenotes, and 85% for the new exam system. Increased student engagement was reflected inincreased average attendance rates, which were 82% for lectures and 88% for discussionsections, versus attendance rates below 50% in comparable courses.    These reforms resulted in a superior experience for course instructors, with faculty sup-porting each other closely within the Community of Practice framework. Consequenty, thisreform strategy is currently expanding, being implemented in “Introductory Solid Mechan-ics,” and is scheduled for implementation next in “Introductory Statics.”
AU  - Matthew West
AU  - Geoffrey L. Herman
CY  - Indianapolis, Indiana
DA  - 2014/06/15
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Sustainable Reform of "Introductory Dynamics" Driven by a Community of Practice
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/23081
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--23081
ER  -