Abstract:

Profound knowledge of engineering mechanics is one of the key ingredients of every engineering education. However, many students perceive the subject as rather difficult and the success rate is relatively low. Thus, the aim of this contribution is to share some experiences with a blended learning, flipped classroom scenario in engineering mechanics on an undergraduate level at a technical university, to investigate if the learning experience can be improved and the success rate increased.

The course in question is an excercise course (german: Uebungen) on the fundamentals of statics and mechanics of materials worth 2 ECTS credits. The learning target is to be able to transfer mechanical concepts to specific problems in order to accurately solve them. Ultimately, the students should be able to properly size trusses and shafts using the concepts learned throughout the course in order to be prepared for further courses based on this knowledge.

Such a setting is the ideal platform for flipped classroom scenarios due to the high emphasis on the solution of specific problem sets. Thus, the main target is to motivate the students to get to know the underlying theoretical concepts and subsequently work on a given set of problems at home, prior to the face-to-face (f2f) class. This, in turn, allows using the limited f2f time to discuss specific difficulties students came across when solving the problem sets and to further consolidate the acquired knowledge by re-teaching certain misunderstood concepts or even solving additional problems.

The central hub for the course is the universities own implementation of the learning management system Moodle. On the one hand, it provides all general information such as a detailed syllabus, organizational information as well as a grading system for the course and a discussion board for organizational matters. On the other hand, it contains all the subject-specific information. The necessary theoretical input is provided by means of wikis and video micro-lectures, while the problem sets are made available as exercises within Moodle. Additionally, a discussion board is available for subject-specific questions. Since students are encouraged to work on problem sets in groups, contribute to the wikis and discuss problems in the message board, an intense collaborative component is added to the course. In the case of contributions to the wiki there is even a small dimension of learner generated content involved. Prior to every f2f class, students are required to take an online exam within Moodle to show if the basic concepts have been understood and the problem sets have been solved properly (mastery test). Based on the results of these exams the f2f class is altered to specifically discuss those problems from the set that raised the most difficulties among students and probably re-teach the underlying theoretical concepts, along the lines of learning analytics.

Since the aim is to raise students' knowledge of engineering mechanics by engaging their interaction with the subject, this contribution will also compare outcomes of courses using the methods described above with similar courses that do not use such methods. The question that will be raised is how one can find out if all these methods contribute to a better learning experience and hopefully to better learning outcomes. The ultimate question will be if it is possible to somehow quantify these improvements.

Keywords:

Engineering mechanics, engineering education, blended learning, flipped classroom, undergraduate, Moodle, mastery test, learning analytics.