Abstract:

There has been an increase in course designs based on principles of active learning and intrinsic motivation, due to several reported cases of correlation between the application of such principles and measurable improvements of student performance. However, despite sharing the same principles, these course designs have significant structural differences because the efficiency of specific methods tend to vary from domain to domain. In this work, the author analyzes and compares the application of a consistent set of principles, from the theories of active learning and intrinsic motivation, over three Engineering courses with significantly distinct sets of learning goals. Despite being designed and ministered by the same professor, and to the same students, the three structures had several differences.

The first course, "Co-Design of Applications", consists of an introduction to front-end development, digital usability and Design Thinking. It relies heavily on project-based learning, to the point of using project deliverables as main assessment tools. The course is divided in two parts. In the first part, the students build a website to learn basic principles of information architecture, color theory, typography, usability, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. In the second part, the students interview a set of users and build and test a prototype of a mobile application that addresses their needs. During the process, they learn principles of empathy, definition, ideation, prototyping, testing, and hybrid development. Most of the classes are short expositions followed by long project studios with two professors as facilitators.

The second course, "Agile Collaborative Development", consists of an introduction to object-oriented programming, data structures, software engineering and agile methodologies. It still relies on project-based learning, but not as much as the first course: project deliverables are important assessment tools, but there are also individual quizzes and tests. The course is divided in four parts. In the first part, the students learn with the Flipped Classroom method: before each class they study a text, and during the class they apply the knowledge of such text into building a project. In the second part, the students have a series of workshops where they use building blocks to learn basic principles of agile methodologies. In the third part, the students practice these principles by developing an application to a client, role-played by the professor. Finally, in the fourth part, the students need to develop from scratch an application for a real client, contacted through existing partnerships of the institution with companies.

The third course, "Programming Challenges", consists of an introduction to the analysis of efficient algorithms and data structures. This course does not rely on project-based learning, focusing instead on small activities that attempt to maximize the time when the students are active. Traditional exposition is kept to a minimum and physical props are used to provide concrete, tangible examples of abstract, digital concepts. Assessment relies mostly on tests, but they are specifically designed to increase the students' sense of competence, improving their intrinsic motivation.

The author explains the motivation behind the structural differences and present the preliminary results obtained after the first iteration of each course. Special attention is given on outcomes that did not meet expectations.

Keywords:

Active learning, intrinsic motivation, engineering, project-based learning, flipped classroom.