Gamifying Sustainable Engineering Courses: Student and Instructor Perspectives of Community, Engagement, Learning, and Retention

Clark, Renee M.; Spisso, Abra; Ketchman, Kevin J.; Landis, Amy E.; Parrish, Kristen; Mohammadiziazi, Rezvan; Bilec, Melissa M.

doi:10.1061/(asce)ei.2643-9115.0000047

Cited by 11 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Table 2 shows the indicators and evaluation methods selected to evaluate each objective. A mixed-methods approach of student surveys and focus groups was employed to evaluate the students' perceptions of each objective (Clark et al 2021). Student self-assessments informed about their perceptions of their work and academic abilities (McMillan 2013).…”

Section: Methods For the Tip Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Regarding the survey, five parts were defined to respond to each indicator: (I) students' perceptions of their learning results before TIP, (II) students' perceptions of their learning results after TIP, (III) students' perceptions of their development of professional competencies, (IV) students' perceptions of the effectiveness of PBL to promote learning and application of the course content, and (V) students' perceptions of the need to coordinate the courses to deepen their understanding of the infrastructure lifecycle phases. Students completed both a pre-project and post-project survey to evaluate their perceptions related to the learning results (Clark et al 2021).…”

Section: Methods For the Tip Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Enhancing a Comprehensive View of the Infrastructure Life Cycle through Project-Based Learning

et al. 2023

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This paper describes a teaching innovation project that adopts the project-based learning approach to introduce civil engineering students to their future professional roles and tasks throughout the infrastructure lifecycle. The successful development of the whole process and completion of the infrastructure in the best technical and sustainable conditions require a comprehensive view of the infrastructure lifecycle. Courses on "Project Design" and "Project and Business Management" at the B.Sc. in Civil Engineering simulate practical experiences in bidding, design, estimation, preliminary analysis, and construction planning, linking theory to professional practice. This study describes the organization of both courses to implement the simulations. To analyze the experience from the student's point of view, a survey examined the students' perceptions of the achievement of higher-order learning and their comprehensive view of the infrastructure lifecycle.In addition, the learning results were compared to the students' perceptions. Results indicate that students are aware of the learning improvement after performing the proposed activities. In addition, this approach helps the students to develop the professional competencies needed for the curricula. The coordination of the courses to align the learning activities with the lifecycle phases enables students to deepen their understanding of the phases of the infrastructure lifecycle, while they acquire a comprehensive view of the process. In addition, this approach has improved the motivation and engagement of the students. This teaching innovation project is easily adaptable to other engineering curricula.

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Section: Methods For the Tip Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methods For the Tip Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing a Comprehensive View of the Infrastructure Life Cycle through Project-Based Learning

et al. 2023

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“…Experiential or active learning may include a variety of activities such as role-playing, small group work, guided discussion, writing exercises (Dengler, 2008) and games (Dieleman and Huisingh, 2006). Game playing and design has also been shown to improve learning outcomes in sustainable engineering courses (Clark et al , 2021). These activities provide an opportunity for personal discovery in students which enhances the learning process (Dengler, 2008; Stanley and Plaza, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching sustainability: does style matter?

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Parks

Sills

et al. 2022

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Purpose This paper aims to analyze how a tangram activity improved students’ abilities to explain sustainability, articulate a positive perception of sustainable design and relate sustainability with innovation in engineering design. Design/methodology/approach The concept of paradigm shift was introduced in the classroom by using a tangram activity to help students understand that sustainable design requires out-of-the-box thinking. Instructors from three institutions teaching various levels of sustainability courses to engineering majors used the activity to introduce sustainable design, then measured the understanding and appreciation of the concepts introduced through the tangram activity with pre- and post-activity surveys. Findings Findings from the study indicate that students’ perceptions of sustainability significantly improved due to the activity, without regard to the institution. The activity also significantly improved students understanding of the connection between sustainability and innovation, across all three institutions, across all majors and across all years of study except second-year students. Improving engineering students’ views on sustainability may lead, over time, to changes in the industry, in which environmental performance is incorporated into the engineering design process. Originality/value Active learning approaches are needed for affective-domain learning objectives in the sustainability field for students to learn the necessary attitudes, values and motivations to implement sustainability in engineering design. Simple, easily implemented active learning techniques, such as the tangram activity presented here, can be implemented across the curriculum or to the public to introduce the paradigm shift necessary with sustainable design.

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“…From the teaching perspective, civil engineering is characterized by the great variety of both theoretical and practical concepts that students must learn, such as structural calculation, hydraulics, transport and logistics, project management and budgeting, team management, legislation, and economics [32,33]. It has undoubtedly meant that the changes to teaching following the COVID-19 pandemic have been especially difficult to implement in civil engineering [34], due to the large number of concepts to be addressed [35].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching lessons learnt by civil-engineering teachers from the COVID-19 pandemic at the University of Burgos, Spain

et al. 2022

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The COVID-19 lockdown in Spain caused abrupt changes for students following the Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Burgos when face-to-face classes switched to online teaching. The recovery of face-to-face teaching after lockdown meant that classes were taught with obligatory social distancing and the use of masks. Teachers were therefore unable to interact with students closely, to perceive their facial expressions during class, or to conduct group work. The changes to civil-engineering teaching linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and the lessons that civil-engineering teachers learnt from the new teaching scenarios are studied in this paper. The reflections of teachers throughout all three stages of the pandemic (pre-pandemic and lockdown, during lockdown, and post-lockdown), and the qualitative and mixed analysis of their responses to a survey of open-ended questions contributed to the identification of six major lessons: (1) asking questions and using real-time quiz tools enliven classes and help to determine which concepts to emphasize for proper student understanding; (2) autonomous student learning can be promoted through the provision of supplementary documentation and the digitalization of solutions to classroom exercises; (3) virtual site visits and real visual examples interspersed with explanations bring concepts closer to their real applications; (4) the delivery of projects in the form of audio-recorded presentations enable their distribution, so that other students can also learn from them as well as the students who created them; (5) online videoconferences, adapted to the concepts that are addressed, facilitate fast and flexible communication with students; and (6) online continuous-assessment exams can promote better student learning patterns and final-exam preparation. Nevertheless, these six lessons were drawn from the experience of teachers at a small Spanish university where the period of solely online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic lasted only four months. Thus, it would be interesting to analyze the experience of civil-engineering teachers at larger universities and universities that had longer periods of solely online teaching. A study of the level of implementation of the six aspects when the pandemic is declared over might also be worthwhile.

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Gamifying Sustainable Engineering Courses: Student and Instructor Perspectives of Community, Engagement, Learning, and Retention

Cited by 11 publications

References 29 publications

Enhancing a Comprehensive View of the Infrastructure Life Cycle through Project-Based Learning

Enhancing a Comprehensive View of the Infrastructure Life Cycle through Project-Based Learning

Teaching sustainability: does style matter?

Teaching lessons learnt by civil-engineering teachers from the COVID-19 pandemic at the University of Burgos, Spain

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