Online Teaching Best Practices for the COVID Era and Beyond: On-Demand Oral Presentations
Sponsored by: ACerS Electronic Division
Program Organizers: B. Reeja Jayan, Carnegie Mellon University; Jennifer Andrew, University Of Florida
Friday 8:00 AM
October 22, 2021
Room: On-Demand Room 13
Location: MS&T On Demand
Session Chair: B. Reeja Jayan, Carnegie Mellon University
Invited
Debunking the Hidden Curriculum in Online STEM Courses: A Depiction of Three Latinx Engineering Educators: Idalis Villanueva-Alarcón1; John Mendoza-Garcia1; Sindia Rivera-Jiménez1; 1University of Florida
With the massive shift to deliver college courses online due to the global pandemic, there are concerns about the learning experiences of historically underrepresented undergraduate students. For faculty in disciplines like science, engineering, technology, or math (STEM), limited training in disciplinary education let alone distance education, influences the ways that diverse students engage and interact with their learning environment. Besides the challenges online education may bring, faculty also need to consider how hidden curriculum (e.g., covert exclusionary messages), if unaddressed, may negatively influence students’ virtual learning environments and experiences. In this work, three Latinx expert engineering educators depict how they navigated the virtual education of large, design-focused, or practice-based undergraduate or graduate STEM courses. Additionally, we provide examples from each of our courses and share how different learning theories (e.g., Team Learning Model, Universal Design for Learning) and evidence-based practices were used to support a diverse group of learners online.
Photonics Workforce Training Using Game-based Learning and Interactive Desktop Simulations: Erik Verlage1; 1Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Virtual Manufacturing Lab (VM-Lab) at MIT is addressing a severe lack of photonics engineers and technicians by developing digital workforce training tools to promote and enhance online learning curricula. By targeting knowledge gaps in advanced manufacturing industries, this effort aims to rapidly reskill and upskill the current manufacturing workforce. Interactive simulations and games have been shown to increase engagement and motivate learning in massive open online courses. VM-Lab explores a three-pronged digital learning approach to train technician and engineering audiences using (i) application-focused games, (ii) novel photonics data visualizations, and (iii) desktop-VR tool-training simulations. A holistic approach of interleaving all three learning modes drives student motivation by building intuition and connecting procedural skill acquisition to observations of real-world technology implementation. Blended learning boot camps, as well as formative/summative assessment interviews, demonstrate the viability of scaling these interactive games and simulations for widespread use in future training programs.
Virtual Learning in Minecraft: Using a Game to Teach Materials Engineering: B. Reeja Jayan1; Chad Hershock1; Michael Melville1; 1Carnegie Mellon University
Due to limited laboratory facilities and other constraints (e.g. COVID-19), many engineering students may not have the opportunity to engage with practical, hands-on learning experiences. Although some research suggests that game-based learning can provide students with these pedagogical benefits, much of that work does not directly assess the impact of such games on student learning outcomes. We examine the impact of leveraging a game (MINECRAFT) based virtual laboratory in an advanced, college-level course on materials engineering. Students scored significantly higher on exam items corresponding to content learned using the virtual laboratory space compared to exam content learned only through traditional classroom and homework formats. Our results are consistent with prior work on game based learning in engineering and contribute to the existing research by providing a direct assessment of students’ learning with the game-based experience, suggesting that game-based learning can, indeed, improve learning outcomes in this context.
Invited
Working Together Apart: Design Thinking and Sustainable Engineering Design Projects Online: Nancy Ruzycki1; 1University of Florida
The pandemic created a large barrier for experiential learning laboratories within engineering departments, with many student laboratories being shut down or moved to entirely virtual (Labster, JoVE, PIVOT Interactives)experiences. At the University of Florida EMA3000L, a sophomore level materials science laboratory, focuses on design thinking, engineering design, sustainable engineering and entrepreneurship and helps students understand application of the materials tetrahedron within engineering design. When this lab was moved entirely online for spring 2021, the course was redesigned so students could have small group design experiences and utilize cell phone apps to help characterize materials properties as part of the design process in the same way they would in a face to face course. This talk will highlight the course design and share examples of how authentic engineering can be created in an online laboratory experience.