Browsing by Author "Davis, Jeffrey A."

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    Assessment activities in teaching first-year engineering mechanics
    (2021) Lorimer, Shelley; Davis, Jeffrey A.
    Assessment activities play a significant role in teaching first-year engineering mechanics courses to ensure that accreditation standards are met. Traditionally, for in-person lecture-based course delivery, assessments involved a mix of problem-solving assignments, lab reports, and examinations. In terms of exams, they were often delivered in a time restricted in-person invigilated setting to uphold academic integrity and ensure that assessments demonstrate course learning outcomes. With the accelerated move to online delivery of lecture material during the Covid pandemic many instructors were required to rapidly transform to an online or blended mode of assessment. This paper speaks to that rapid transformation of first-year assessments and how prior teaching experiences in engineering education were used to ease the difficulty of this transition.
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    Development of large scale STEM problem databases for student learning and assessment tools
    (2021) Lorimer, Shelley; Davis, Jeffrey A.
    Problem databases in STEM courses are used in tools for the development of student learning and final assessment. In addition, large problem databases are used to develop models for automatic assessment and feedback of students’ work. However, the availability of large, open source, problem databases for specific courses is limited, and in-house development of a wide variety of problems can take years. In this paper, the framework for a problem database in STEM courses was created using semantic analysis of sentence structure and composition. Problem statements were analyzed to determine the key grammatical constructs that are used in commonly posed problems. Based on this analysis, software was developed to create large problem databases which allow for simple extension to other courses. Using a first-year mechanics course this software was populated with a few generalized questions and sentence structures to create a large problem database.
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    Teaching first-year engineering in an online learning environment
    (2021) Lorimer, Shelley; Davis, Jeffrey A.
    Teaching models in face-to-face classes have evolved over time with goals to maximize student learning through the use of learning models such as problem based, experiential, cooperative, active and discovery learning to name a few. Mastery of these teaching models requires an instructor to be knowledgeable and proficient with different media (e.g. whiteboard, projector, demonstration equipment, feedback tools, communication tools, learning management systems) while teaching and assessing students. When switching to different types of delivery methods (face-to-face, online, and hybrid) it is important to ensure that alternative teaching and learning methods and media are possible to accommodate and enhance learning. The recent Pandemic has caused a rapid transition to online teaching without time to adjust teaching and learning methodologies. This has caused changes in both the teaching environment and the learning community which are factors in both social and constructivism learning theories. In terms of the environment, students are now isolated physically and move around in a virtual environment; their experience and motivation varied by technology and societal factor. Similarly, changes in the learning community were found as students are no longer physically in groups but exist in virtual communities which affect student motivation and support. The research in this paper focuses on the effects of the shift to an online teaching modality. It first looks at the influencing factors in constructivism learning theory (such as the environment and community) and develops an inventory of concepts and techniques used to teach first year engineering both within a face-to-face and online learning environment. The paper then reflects on challenges found in recent online teaching experiences within an online environment in different first-year engineering courses, and finally discusses opportunities for improvements.