Observations on Student Performance and Learning Outcomes in a Class Project for Materials and Manufacturing Course

Abstract

Course related projects have long been widely regarded as critical component of engineering education. They are an important way to assess how well the students have learnt the theoretical material and how skillfully they can apply it to real life situations. At Rowan University a Material and Manufacturing course is offered every spring semester. For the Spring 2015 semester a hands-on lab component on material testing was conducted while for Spring 2016 a software simulation based project was assigned. The objective was to assess a key pedagogical parameter "achievement of ABET student outcomes", focusing mainly on (a) an ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data, (b) an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints and (c) an ability to communicate effectively. The paper will discuss the experimental methods (uniaxial tensile testing, cyclic tensile-relaxation testing on stainless steel ASTM dog-bone samples), evaluation techniques and results obtained in assessing students' knowledge on the course topic, their programming and data analysis skills, their skill at learning and using engineering tools such as simulation software, and the effect such an activity has on their performance on the inclass exams. We also discuss some of the simulation analysis performed by the students to investigate the material behavior under various loading conditions and the results interpreted by them in their reports.

Board 16: Work in Progress: Design of “Risk and Resilience” Focused Courses for Undergraduate Engineering Education Towards a Hazard-Resilient Built Environment

“…These three courses have been included in the civil engineering curriculum as technical elective courses that are offered to undergraduate students during the junior and senior years. Collaborative class project will be incorporated into each course, which has been demonstrated as an effective approach to enhance students' engagement and self-efficacy [6][7][8][9]. We are currently implementing an evaluation plan for these three courses to assess the effects of collaborative class projects on the students' self-efficacy.…”