Delivering an Engineering Laboratory Course Using the Internet, the Post Office, and a Campus Visit

Alexander, David; Smelser, Ronald

doi:10.1002/j.2168-9830.2003.tb00741.x

Cited by 29 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 2 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…44 An example of a hybrid deployment of an engineering lab course is the combined use of virtual labs, lab kits, and hands-on labs for a mechanics of materials lab. 38 The above studies of these alternative approaches to lab courses show no significant difference in the performance and outcomes for students in the online and traditional labs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Representative examples include engineering graphics, 27,28 circuits, [29][30][31][32][33][34] introduction to engineering, 35,36 statics, 37 mechanics of materials, 38 fluid mechanics, 39 power systems, 40 thermodynamics, 41,42 and engineering economy. [43][44][45] Studies of the effectiveness of these online engineering courses have demonstrated that they are at least as effective as the traditional lecture format.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[43][44][45] Studies of the effectiveness of these online engineering courses have demonstrated that they are at least as effective as the traditional lecture format. [27][28][29][30]33,[36][37][38][39]45 Researchers have attributed the challenge of designing effective online engineering laboratory courses as the most significant barrier to widespread adoption of online programs in engineering. 5,7,8,29,46,47 Alternative delivery of traditional campus labs can be implemented using a number of approaches including virtual labs (computer-based simulations of laboratory experiments), remote labs (students control equipment and instruments that are remotely located), hybrid labs (combination of virtual and remote labs), and portable lab kits (either instructor-assembled, or commercially assembled).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Work in Progress: Creating Alternative Learning Strategies for Transfer Engineering Programs

Enriquez¹,

Dunmire²,

Rebold³

et al.

2015 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition Proceedings

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Nick Rentsch is an adjunct professor of physics, engineering, and computer science at Cañada College, Skyline College, and San Francisco State University. He received his M.S. degree from San Francisco State University in embedded electrical engineering and computer systems. His technical interests include embedded control, electronic hardware design, analog audio electronics, digital audio signal processing, and sound synthesis and electronics for musical applications. His educational research interests include technology-enhanced instruction and the development of novel instructional equipment and curricula for enhancing academic success in science and engineering. Ms. Eva Schiorring, EduData4ActionEva Schiorring has almost two decades of experience in research and evaluation and special knowledge about STEM education in community colleges and four-year institutions. Ms. Schiorring presently serves as the external evaluator for three NSF-funded projects that range in scope and focus from leadership development to service learning and experimentation with alternative delivery, including online lab courses. Ms. Schiorring is also evaluating a project that is part of the California State University system's new initiative to increase first year persistence in STEM. In 2014, Ms. Schiorring was one of the first participants in the NSF's Innovation-CORPS (I-CORPS), a two-month intensive training that uses an entrepreneurship model to teach participants to achieve scalable sustainability in NSF-funded projects. Past projects include evaluation of an NSF-funded project to improve advising for engineering students at a major state university in California. Ms. Schiorring is the author and co-author of numerous papers and served as project lead on a major study of transfer in engineering. Ms. Schiorring holds a Master's Degree in Public Policy from Harvard University. (CALSTEP). The project aims to strengthen community college engineering programs using distance education and other alternative delivery strategies that will enable small-to-medium community college engineering programs to support lower-division engineering courses that students need to be competitive for transfer to four-year engineering programs. Funded by a three-year grant through the National Science Foundation Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (NSF IUSE) program, CALSTEP will leverage existing educational resources and develop new ones for online lecture courses, as well as core engineering laboratory courses that are delivered either completely online, or with limited faceto-face interactions. The initial areas of focus for laboratory course development are: Introduction to Engineering, Engineering Graphics, Materials Science, and Circuit Analysis. CALSTEP will also develop alternative models of flipped classroom instruction to improve student success and enhance student access to engineering courses that otherwise could not be supported in traditional delivery modes due to low enrollment. The project will also evaluate the effectiveness of th...

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Work in Progress: Creating Alternative Learning Strategies for Transfer Engineering Programs

Enriquez¹,

Dunmire²,

Rebold³

et al.

2015 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition Proceedings

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…These Lab-Kits contained materials that would be used in a traditional lab setting such as calipers, micrometers, and scales. Though the course offering was deemed successful in "introducing engineering concepts, developing hands-on skills, and motivating students to become independent learners", it was unsustainable due to budgetary constraints and staffing challenges [8]. Authors Alexander and Smelser conclude that their successes in online delivery of a Mechanics of Materials course with the home Lab-Kits, as demonstrated by such student behaviors as higher risk taking and more in-depth experimentation work with labs, should aid others in developing hands-on online course offerings [8].…”

Section: Online Engineering Labsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bringing Experiential Learning into the Online Classroom: A Mechanics of Materials Course Case Study

Dittenber

2017 ASEE Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Dr. David Dittenber is an assistant professor of civil engineering at LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas. He earned his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering at LeTourneau and spent a year teaching high school math and science. He then attended West Virginia University, where he earned his master's and doctoral degrees in civil engineering, with a research focus on the use of composite materials in infrastructure. Dr. Dittenber chose to return to his alma mater to teach, largely because of LeTourneau's reputation of being a hands-on, undergraduate-centric, teaching-focused engineering program. Ms. Allyson Jo Ironside, Oregon State UniversityAlly Ironside is a recent graduate from LeTourneau University where she studied Water Resources in Civil Engineering. She is currently fusing her technical background with her passion for education in pursuing a doctoral degree in Civil Engineering while conducting research in Engineering Education at Oregon State University. Her research interests include the adoption of teaching best practices in engineering and the personal epistemology development of students.c American Society for Engineering Education, 2017 Bringing Experiential Learning into the Online Classroom: A Mechanics of Materials Course Case StudyAbstract An online Mechanics of Materials course offered in the summer of 2016 by LeTourneau University was designed to include several unique components intended to facilitate experiential learning in a manner more typically found in some traditional classroom-delivery courses. In addition to video lecture and example materials, course innovations aimed at achieving these outcomes included: a small project involving students' evaluation of mechanics principles in their surroundings with a peer review, an analysis of a case of historical importance in which a failure related to mechanics of materials occurred, and the delivery of a physical activity kit to each student filled with demonstration materials relevant to the concepts of the course. Student perceptions about the efficacy of the tools and projects at meeting the goal of increasing connections between course concepts and real world applications were collected through a brief survey of participating students. Based on the results of the survey, students appear to selfidentify that both small projects and several of the materials available in the physical activity kit contributed positively to their connections between the course concepts and real world applications. Student feedback through free-response also included helpful recommendations, such as increased interaction opportunities between course participants and the replacement of written instructions with video demonstrations showing how to make the best use of the items in the physical kit.

show abstract

“…For instance, Abbas and Leseman [5] developed a laboratory-based curriculum on the theory, fabrication, and characterization of microelectromechanical systems, in which course assessment data is input by students from three semesters, based on which the effectiveness of the laboratory project is evaluated. Alexander and Smelser [6] proposed a distance laboratory teaching method that combined multi-media computer experiments, portable hands-on exercises, and place-bound laboratory experiments. Zhang et al [7] utilized graphical development tools to better teach engineering technology laboratories, in which they revamped the previous Engineering Technology undergraduate lab courses with LabVIEW and implemented their lab-driven pedagogy in their ELET 3451 Robotics Lab.…”

Section: The Multiple-lab-driven Pedagogy With Tck Integratedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-Lab-Driven Learning Method Used for Robotics ROS System Development

Luo¹,

Wang²,

Wang³

et al.

2017 ASEE Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Delivering an Engineering Laboratory Course Using the Internet, the Post Office, and a Campus Visit

Cited by 29 publications

References 2 publications

Work in Progress: Creating Alternative Learning Strategies for Transfer Engineering Programs

Work in Progress: Creating Alternative Learning Strategies for Transfer Engineering Programs

Bringing Experiential Learning into the Online Classroom: A Mechanics of Materials Course Case Study

Multi-Lab-Driven Learning Method Used for Robotics ROS System Development

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About