Roxanne Toto

Flipping the Work Design in an industrial engineering course

Educational practice and the concept of ‘active learning’ have had a significant impact on engineering education. Challenging students with questions and problem-solving activities to learn course material is what we do in engineering courses. However, how do we continue to cover the amount of material we need to cover and still open up class time to include the active learning strategies so necessary in engineering? This paper describes the design and implementation of an instructional strategy called ‘the classroom flip’ or inverted classroom that was put into practice in an industrial engineering course. Initial results from the classroom provide feedback and insight into how this technique might be best utilized to enhance learning in engineering education.

Acceptance of Tablet PC technology by engineering faculty

This paper considers the results of a two-year project in which Tablet PCs were given to engineering faculty at the Pennsylvania State University. During Phase 1, 34 faculty members received a Tablet PC for use in the classroom. Due to the success of this implementation and demand by other faculty, the project was expanded in the following year to include an additional 30 faculty members in the College of Engineering. During both phases of the project, the participants were asked to complete various assessment tools including scales measuring teaching efficacy, computer skills efficacy, and technology acceptance. A sample of the faculty members participated in interviews intended to gather additional information on their perceptions of the Tablet PC and its benefit in the classroom environment. This paper provides results of the project assessment and its relation to the literature on the diffusion of innovation and the Technology Acceptance Model. Implications of the assessment will be discussed that may be helpful to those who are interested in implementing a similar program for engineering faculty.

Designing collaborative activities in virtual environments for learning

This paper demonstrates the connection between organisation, collaboration and learning in virtual learning environments (VLEs). Our main focus is the investigation of the extent to which course developers and course instructors need to consider organisational measures and design in order to trigger (self-guided) learning and collaboration of participants within online learning environments. The design of these virtual learning environments involves an intricate balance between the following elements: the organisation of the content; how the instructional activities are sequenced; how the interactions between students, tasks, and materials are structured; and how the learning process is evaluated. Mentorship must be present throughout this process. Aspects of mentorship can manifest themselves in a variety of ways including: asking an expert, true mentoring, tutoring, and peer to peer support.