Work in Progress: Development of an Android-based Student Mobile Application for the AIChE Concept Warehouse

Rachel M. White; Bill Jay Brooks; Debra M. Gilbuena; Milo Koretsky

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Conference: 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Publication Date: June 15, 2014
Start Date: June 15, 2014
End Date: June 18, 2014
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: Computers in Education Division Poster Session
Tagged Division: Computers in Education
Page Count: 10
Page Numbers: 24.1387.1 - 24.1387.10
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--23320
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/23320
Download Count: 524

Paper Authors

biography

Rachel M. White Oregon State University

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Rachel White is a junior in chemical engineering at Oregon State University. Her interest in engineering education comes from being a student and observing fellow classmates struggling with their studies. She is interested in promoting conceptual understanding in the chemical engineering core curriculum so that students can perform better both in the classroom and beyond.

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Bill Jay Brooks Oregon State University

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Bill Brooks is a postdoctoral scholar in the School of Chemical, Biological, and Environmental Engineering at Oregon State University. His Ph.D used written explanations to concept questions to investigate technology mediated active learning in the undergraduate chemical engineering classroom. He current interests involve using technology to enhance educational practices in promoting conceptual understanding. He is the primary programmer of the AIChE Concept Warehouse and his current focus is on its continued development, specifically creating and integrating Interactive Virtual Labs.

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Debra M. Gilbuena Oregon State University

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Debra Gilbuena is a postdoctoral scholar in the School of Chemical, Biological, and Environmental Engineering at Oregon State University. Debra has an M.BA, an M.S, and four years of industrial experience including a position in sensor development. Sensor development is also an area in which she holds a patent. She currently has research focused on student learning in virtual laboratories and the diffusion of educational interventions and practices.

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Milo Koretsky Oregon State University

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Milo Koretsky is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at Oregon State University. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from UC San Diego and his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, all in Chemical Engineering. He currently has research activity in areas related engineering education and is interested in integrating technology into effective educational practices and in promoting the use of higher-level cognitive skills in engineering problem solving. His research interests particularly focus on what prevents students from being able to integrate and extend the knowledge developed in specific courses in the core curriculum to the more complex, authentic problems and projects they face as professionals. Dr. Koretsky is one of the founding members of the Center for Lifelong STEM Education Research at OSU.

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Abstract

Development of an Android-based Student Mobile Application for the AIChE Concept WarehouseIncorporating user feedback to continually improve educational innovations is imperative for theadoption and sustained use of those innovations. We report on the development, initialdeployment, and usability evaluation for a user-suggested improvement to the AIChE ConceptWarehouse: incorporation of an Android operating system based Student Mobile Application.Our intent is to share what we have learned through our improvement process, such that otherinnovators can benefit from the lessons learned through our experience.The AIChE Concept Warehouse was developed with the goal of fostering a community oflearning within chemical engineering. The Concept Warehouse’s cyber-enabled databaseinfrastructure is designed to promote concept-based instruction through the use of conceptquestions in core curriculum courses like Material/Energy Balances, Thermodynamics, TransportPhenomena, Kinetics and Reactor Design, and Materials Science. Concept questions, both asConcept Inventories and as ConcepTests, are available to help lower the barrier of using concept-based instruction and assessment. This instruction and these assessments can be used to promoteand evaluate student learning in real-time. The instructor can then adjust the pace of lecture inresponse to student understanding, spending more time on more difficult concepts. This tool alsoallows for reflective assessments such as the “muddiest point.”A Student Mobile Application has been developed to make it easier for students to submitanswers and written explanations to these assessments using mobile devices. Previously, studentscould input their answers to conceptual questions using clickers, smartphones, and laptops.However, input via smartphones was cumbersome because it depended on a student’s webbrowser and the full size web page. The improved student interface will facilitate studentparticipation by making it easier for them to submit responses via smartphone.Once the application was developed, we conducted initial usability testing with students who hadbeen using the previous web-based options for answer submissions. In order to assess theusability, usage statistics from pre- and post- application release and student responses tousability surveys were collected. Survey responses were used to identify student likes anddislikes and compare the different available options for answer submission. Results from surveysand usage statistics were also used to improve the design of the application.

Citation
Format

White, R. M., & Brooks, B. J., & Gilbuena, D. M., & Koretsky, M. (2014, June), Work in Progress: Development of an Android-based Student Mobile Application for the AIChE Concept Warehouse Paper presented at 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Indianapolis, Indiana. 10.18260/1-2--23320

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -        Development of an Android-based Student Mobile Application for                       the AIChE Concept WarehouseIncorporating user feedback to continually improve educational innovations is imperative for theadoption and sustained use of those innovations. We report on the development, initialdeployment, and usability evaluation for a user-suggested improvement to the AIChE ConceptWarehouse: incorporation of an Android operating system based Student Mobile Application.Our intent is to share what we have learned through our improvement process, such that otherinnovators can benefit from the lessons learned through our experience.The AIChE Concept Warehouse was developed with the goal of fostering a community oflearning within chemical engineering. The Concept Warehouse’s cyber-enabled databaseinfrastructure is designed to promote concept-based instruction through the use of conceptquestions in core curriculum courses like Material/Energy Balances, Thermodynamics, TransportPhenomena, Kinetics and Reactor Design, and Materials Science. Concept questions, both asConcept Inventories and as ConcepTests, are available to help lower the barrier of using concept-based instruction and assessment. This instruction and these assessments can be used to promoteand evaluate student learning in real-time. The instructor can then adjust the pace of lecture inresponse to student understanding, spending more time on more difficult concepts. This tool alsoallows for reflective assessments such as the “muddiest point.”A Student Mobile Application has been developed to make it easier for students to submitanswers and written explanations to these assessments using mobile devices. Previously, studentscould input their answers to conceptual questions using clickers, smartphones, and laptops.However, input via smartphones was cumbersome because it depended on a student’s webbrowser and the full size web page. The improved student interface will facilitate studentparticipation by making it easier for them to submit responses via smartphone.Once the application was developed, we conducted initial usability testing with students who hadbeen using the previous web-based options for answer submissions. In order to assess theusability, usage statistics from pre- and post- application release and student responses tousability surveys were collected. Survey responses were used to identify student likes anddislikes and compare the different available options for answer submission. Results from surveysand usage statistics were also used to improve the design of the application.
AU  - Rachel M. White
AU  - Bill Jay Brooks
AU  - Debra M. Gilbuena
AU  - Milo Koretsky
CY  - Indianapolis, Indiana
DA  - 2014/06/15
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Work in Progress: Development of an Android-based Student Mobile Application for the AIChE Concept Warehouse
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/23320
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--23320
ER  -