Laboratory-based learning can be weakened by a lack of connection with underlying theory and limited contextualization to enhance motivation. To address these shortcomings, a framework for the development of web-based multimedia prelaboratory modules is proposed. The framework incorporates supportive information (content), utility value (context), multimedia design principles (design), and questions/explanatory feedback (formative assessment). On the basis of this framework, prelaboratory modules were developed for three second-year organic chemistry experiments in a chemical engineering course. Each module consists of a few short animation videos and a few questions. The videos include explanation of theories and justification for experimental procedures (supportive information), as well as explanation of utility value to increase student motivation. The effectiveness of the modules was assessed through multiple strategies including a survey with learning and utility value/motivation constructs, student grades for the modules, time spent on the modules, and the number of times videos were watched. Students in general expressed positive views regarding the prelaboratory modules in terms of understanding and relating theory to procedures, and understanding the utility value of the material. Half of the students reported increased motivation as a result of understanding the utility value of the knowledge they acquired. Thus, prelaboratory exercises based on this framework may alleviate some of the educational challenges in undergraduate laboratories.
Her primary research interests are in Human Factors and Systems Engineering, specifically their application in Education (e.g. learning outcomes assessment, engineering problem solving). Before that, she completed her MASc. (2015) and BASc. (2012) in Electrical Engineering from University of Toronto.
A significant amount of research, reflected in the 2000 ABET requirements, has acknowledged the importance of a broad-based, liberal education for engineering students' critical reading and thinking abilities. Yet the question of how to integrate that education into already bursting engineering curricula remains a challenge. For engineering students, many of whom still define themselves in opposition to the "artsies" residing on the other side of campus, the opportunity to take a humanities elective in another program is often fraught with anxieties about academic expectations, unfamiliar pedagogical approaches, and engineering vs. arts student stereotypes. In some universities, engineering students are also given lower priority in registering for humanities courses, making selection of desired subjects and courses even more challenging. At the University of Toronto, the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering has taken an alternative approach to these challenges by developing in-house humanities and social science electives designed specifically to appeal to engineering students. The courses operate at the intersections between humanities and engineering, and are staffed by faculty members from the Engineering Communication Program (ECP). Although the ECP's main responsibility is to teach communication skills to engineering students, their faculty's diverse backgrounds in theatre, literature, and education, alongside their understanding of engineering student needs make them well suited for these electives. Teaching humanities activities and pedagogies while focusing on comparatively familiar topics in science and engineering encourages students to engage more confidently in an unfamiliar discipline. Several different courses, focusing on different intersections, now exist. "Representing Science on Stage" focuses on the intersections between science and theatre, framed by an attempt to define "science/scientist" and "performance/performer," and to pull apart stereotypical binary pairs-rational vs. imaginative, objective vs. subjective, intellectual vs. emotional-using plays with science as its subject matter. Another course, "Representing Science and Technology in the Popular Media" teaches literary and critical analysis through close examination of popular science texts, particularly science journalism. It takes advantage of the students' scientific backgrounds, which affords them a deeper ability to assess the validity, identify characteristics, and critique the techniques employed in the prose. This paper describes the motivation behind developing humanities electives that exist at the intersection of the humanities and engineering, and examines instructor experiences and student feedback from the courses to reach several important conclusions. First, the classroom atmosphere created by a group of engineering students participating in traditionally humanities pedagogies, in which their disciplinary expertise brings to bear some important perspectives on
is a PhD Candidate, graduate research and teaching assistant in Engineering Education at the University of Toronto. She received her Hon. B.Sc. in 2013, and her Master's degree in Chemistry in 2014. Her dissertation explores improving the learning outcomes of undergraduate engineering laboratories by bridging the learning from a larger context to the underlying fundamentals, using digital learning objects.
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