A methodology for improving active learning engineering courses with a large number of students and teachers through feedback gathering and iterative refinement

Abstract

In the last decade, engineering education has evolved in many ways to meet society demands. Universities offer more flexible curricula and put a lot of effort on the acquisition of professional engineering skills by the students. In many universities, the courses in the first years of different engineering degrees share program and objectives, having a large number of students and teachers. These common courses are expected to provide the students with meaningful learning experiences, which could be achieved by using active learning. The use of active learning in engineering courses improves traditional teaching by promoting students' participation and engagement, although active learning courses can be very sensitive to differences in learning paces or team conflicts; this being a challenge for the widespread adoption of active learning in courses with many students and teachers. This paper proposes a methodology that facilitates the detection and reaction to problems in active learning engineering courses with many students and teachers. This methodology is based on gathering feedback (from students and teachers) and decision-making processes at selected milestones. The methodology integrates intraedition mechanisms in order to detect problems and react as the courses are being taught, and inter-edition mechanisms to ensure the persistence of necessary changes in the courses design. The methodology has been successfully applied during four consecutive editions to improve an undergraduate active learning programming course with an average of 257 students and 9 teachers per edition. An extended validation of expert educators suggests that this methodology can also be applied to traditional engineering courses.

Mixing and blending MOOC Technologies with face-to-face pedagogies

“…Nevertheless, our experience shows how the application of this methodology obtains a positive reaction from the vast majority students, who appreciate the practical focus of the courses, leaving more time during face-to-face sessions to solve doubts or problems [6].…”

“…On average, 100 students are enrolled per year and the course is in its sixth edition. The course design follows an active learning approach and relies strongly on a flippedclassroom methodology [6]. Each week a two face-to-face sessions (one lecture and a lab) take place.…”

Re-visiting the flipped classroom in a design context

“…What we took to be a rich repository of resources for students to dip into was seen by many students as overwhelming. In an insightful lecture on technology-enhanced learning using the flipped classroom approach, Abelardo Pardo Sanchez from the University of Sydney Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies emphasised that flipped classroom course leaders need to make clear to students what is expected of them as preparation for the class, perhaps even with step-by-step instructions (Estévez-Ayres, et al, 2015). Otherwise we are confronting students with too many choices including deciding whether they really need to go to the class as all the relevant material is online.…”

Acquiring Skills for Academic Success through Project-Based Learning in First-year Engineering

“…The broad aim of the TLE module was to raise engagement levels of first-year engineering students with project based activities that involved practical applications of engineering and physics. The use of this type of active learning in engineering courses improves traditional teaching by promoting students' participation and engagement [1]. Students develop skills and facts as they progress through the process of solving the problem with a design approach [2].…”