Komulainen, T. M., & Lindstrøm, C., & Sandtrø, T. (2015, June), Work in Progress: Development and Use of an Active Learning Classroom for a Course on Dynamic Systems   Paper presented at 2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle, Washington. 10.18260/p.25086

\bibitem{asee_peer_25086}
  Komulainen, T. M., \& Lindstrøm, C., \& Sandtrø, T. (2015, June), \emph{Work in Progress: Development and Use of an Active Learning Classroom for a Course on Dynamic Systems }
  Paper presented at 2015 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Seattle, Washington.
  10.18260/p.25086

Tiina M. Komulainen, Christine Lindstrøm, and Tengel Sandtrø.  "Work in Progress: Development and Use of an Active Learning Classroom for a Course on Dynamic Systems ".  2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle, Washington, 2015, June.  ASEE Conferences, 2015.  https://peer.asee.org/25086 Internet.  13 Sep, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_25086}
  Tiina M. Komulainen, Christine Lindstrøm, and Tengel Sandtrø.
  "Work in Progress: Development and Use of an Active Learning Classroom for a Course on Dynamic Systems ".
  \emph{2015 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Seattle, Washington, 2015, June}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2015.
  https://peer.asee.org/25086 Internet.  13 Sep, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_25086
author = "Tiina M. Komulainen, Christine Lindstrøm, and Tengel Sandtrø"
title = "Work in Progress: Development and Use of an Active Learning Classroom for a Course on Dynamic Systems "
booktitle = "2015 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2015"
month = "June"
address = "Seattle, Washington"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/25086}
number = {10.18260/p.25086}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -    Work in progress: Assessment of active learning methods for control                           systems educationABSTRACT: Large-scale meta-analyses in physics and STEM education research haveconcluded that active learning increases students learning outcome and decrease drop-outrate (Fraser et al., 2014; Freeman et al., 2014). Our motivation to test active learningmethods in technology-rich environments is the student parliament’s request for moreblended learning in our institution, and the course evaluations from fall 2013, in which thestudents ask for group-focused classroom for exercises, and more teaching resources.Thus, our research questions are: How to implement active learning methods in ourtechnology-rich group room? How much do active learning methods improve students’learning outcomes compared to traditionally taught course? The test course is dynamicsystems, and the test period is fall 2013-fall 2015, with traditional lecturing during fall2013, and with active learning methods during fall 2014 and 2015.The pedagogical underpinning is blended learning. Instructional strategies include aspectsof: peer instruction, cooperative group problem solving, context-rich problems, just-in-time-teaching, and SCALE-UP, (American Association of Physics Teachers, 2014; Mazur,1997; Novak, Patterson, Gavrin, & Christian, 1999). The courses will be assessed with:Control Systems Concept Inventory pre- and post-test (Bristow et al., 2012), five bi-weeklymini-exams with peer-evaluation, teachers activity log (Figure 1), students’ courseevaluations, and a formal final examination. The concept inventory results will becompared to the “Introduction to control systems”-course results reported by Bristow et al.(2012). The results of the formal final exam and the students’ course evaluations (fall 2014)will be compared to the results from fall 2013. The initial results from fall semester 2014will be available before the ASEE draft submission 2.2.2015.The course on dynamic systems corresponds to 10 ECTS, lasts for 14 weeks, and hasenrollment of 50-60 second year electrical engineering students majoring in Automation.Teaching resources comprise one instructor, two teaching assistants (3rd year BSc students),a pedagogical supervisor and a laboratory engineer. The course covers modeling andanalysis of first and second order dynamic systems in time and frequency domain, withapplications in oil and gas industry. The expected course commitment from students is 13hours per week, divided between preparation for classes and pre-class quizes (2-3hours/week), active learning in the classroom (6 hours/week), laboratory exercises (3-4hours every other week), mandatory exercises (3-4 hours every other week).Our technology-rich active learning classroom accommodates 64 students in a room witheight group tables, each with a small screen and web-conference equipment. In addition, theclassroom has five large screens, that can be controlled wirelessly via Airmedia-documentsharing software, and a smart board for the instructor. All the students are responsible forbringing their own laptops or tablets, and to install necessary software prior to semesterstart. The design of the classroom is inspired by SCALE-UP (Gaffney, Richards, Kustusch,Ding, & Beichner, 2008), TEAL (Belcher, Dourmashkin, & Lister, 2014) and ActiveLearning Classrooms (Walker, Brooks, & Baepler, 2011).  Following these studies, we presumed that a group-focused room with high flexibility  would allow rapid transition between different activities. As illustrated in Figure 1, classes  include multiple student-centered activities as well as lecturing and demos by the instructor.  A typical session includes a short lecture or demonstration by the instruction, group work  on a theoretical task, student presentation in the group using the small screens, group  discussion, and further group work. At the end of the 2-4-hour session, one student from  each group gives a short plenary presentation of the results using the large screens, and the  instructor rounds up the lesson. Hence, the students are activated by inclusion, as group  members solving tasks and as presenters for their class.  Figure 1: Teachers activity log, cumulated time on different course activities 18.8.-10.10.2014 divided  between student-centered activities 1145min, teacher-centered 788min, and technical set-up 15 min.Literature references:American Association of Physics Teachers. (2014). PhysPort - Supporting physics teaching        with research-based resources. Retrieved 12.10.2014, from        https://www.physport.org/Belcher, J., Dourmashkin, P., & Lister, D. (2014). TEAL Technology-Enhanced Active        Learning. Retrieved 12.10.2014, from http://web.mit.edu/edtech/casestudies/teal.htmlBristow, M., Erkorkmaz, K., Huissoon, J. P., Jeon, S., Owen, W. S., Waslander, S. L., &        Stubley, G. D. (2012). A Control Systems Concept Inventory Test Design and        Assessment. IEEE Transactions on Education, 55(2), 10. doi:        10.1109/TE.2011.2160946Fraser, J. M., Timan, A. L., Miller, K., Dowd, J. E., Tucker, L., & Mazur1, E. (2014).        Teaching and physics education research: bridging the gap. Reports on Progress in        Physics, 77(3), 17. doi:10.1088/0034-4885/77/3/032401Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., &        Wenderoth, M. P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science,        engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of        the United States of America (PNAS), 6. doi:10.1073/pnas.1319030111Gaffney, J. D. H., Richards, E., Kustusch, M. B., Ding, L., & Beichner, R. J. (2008). Scaling       Up Education Reform. Journal of college science teaching, 37(5), 18-23.Mazur, E. (1997). Peer Instruction: A User's Manual. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.Novak, G., Patterson, E., Gavrin, A., & Christian, W. (1999). Just-in-Time Teaching:       Blending activelearning with web technology. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.Walker, J. D., Brooks, D. C., & Baepler, P. (2011). Pedagogy and Space: Empirical Research       on New Learning Environments. EDUCAUSE Quarterly, 34(4).
AU  - Tiina M. Komulainen
AU  - Christine Lindstrøm
AU  - Tengel Sandtrø
CY  - Seattle, Washington
DA  - 2015/06/14
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Work in Progress: Development and Use of an Active Learning Classroom for a Course on Dynamic Systems 
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/25086
DO  - 10.18260/p.25086
ER  -