It has been observed recently that the advancements in information technology and digitalization, along with the increased affordability of educational technology has led to a broader adoption of those technologies in the higher education. At the same time, student behavior towards learning is changing and many students prefer student-driven personalized learning, which is typically enabled by an availability of online resources. This gives them the control of when they are to learn.
There are many examples of successful uses of video-based learning in engineering education, e.g. in software and control theory. However, there are comparably fewer examples of video-based learning in design-build-test project courses. Reasons for this may include that design education often relies on personal tutoring and feedback in small-group settings and the wish and need to build things.
This paper aims at demonstrating the applicability of video learning in design courses and at evaluating to what extent it benefits students. The courses in question are Engineering Design and Optimization, Product Planning and Machine Elements in the Mechanical Engineering programme at Chalmers University of Technology. The research was carried out by first creating set of videos for selected topics in the courses. Around 20 videos were created including topics such as for instance Benchmarking, Prototype lab equipment instructions. The learning outcomes of the video lessons are mapped to the CDIO syllabus. A blended learning environment was developed, i.e. the videos are used as an additional support within existing courses.
The videos were then used in the courses and student’s feedbacks collected by carrying out a dedicated questionnaire, the regular course evaluation questionnaire, and in student-teacher meetings during and after the courses. The collected data was analyzed to produce inferences about the applicability and utility of the video lectures.
The result analysis shows student preferences regarding the evaluated video lectures. It also provides further insight on what course content to focus more on for future video development. The paper suggests that incremental changes are to be carried out for video development in the courses, and to propose an easy adaptable way for teachers to develop video material. The preliminary results from the Engineering Design and Optimization course shows that the students find video lectures more appealing, and there is an inclination towards, video lectures compared to traditional lectures. One of the main benefits highlighted is the flexibility of watching a video in the middle of the design-build project execution. This helps in reinforcing concepts, and enables less dependency on supervisors during project execution. Keywords: CDIO Standards 2, 5, 7, 8; Video-based learning, Design-build-test project
Proceedings of the 13th International CDIO Conference in Calgary, Canada, June 18-22 2017
Conceive
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