Abstract:

Since the introduction of the idea of threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge in 2003 [1], it has become clear that threshold concepts are particular to each subject and discipline and that specific instructional approaches and practices are needed to help students better overcome them.

Our teaching practice in the ‘Control of Mechatronic Systems” module has indicated that there are some concepts in this module that are crucial for progressing in the subject and that students often tend to struggle with. Although this module is taught using a blended learning approach that is designed to enhance student learning, an unexpectedly large number of students have problems understanding these concepts. To address this issue, we implemented an educational intervention in our original module by integrating some teaching approaches and methods from the T‑CHAT educational approach. Two complex topics of the module were presented to the students as such and were taught in particular detail, combining the small steps method with getting feedback from the students.

To measure the impact of this new approach, two post-module student self-assessment surveys were conducted: one after the module delivered using our original blended learning approach and the other after the module delivered using the pedagogical intervention. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics to determine how students perceived their technical knowledge and skills development. This analysis showed that the percentage of students who participated in the educational intervention and perceived that they understood the basic definitions and fundamental problems of the subject was higher than that of the students who participated in the original module. Students who participated in the educational intervention gave high ratings for overall development of their disciplinary knowledge in skills. These results show that the T-CHAT intervention was successful in teaching threshold topics to students in the ‘Control of Mechatronic Systems” module. Some of the free-text feedback from students gave us insights to improve teaching.

Keywords:

Threshold concepts, complex topics, control engineering, mechatronics, T-CHAT approach.