IUSE: Understanding and Supporting Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Student and Faculty Engagement with an Active, Blended and Collaborative (ABC) Learning Environment

留住工科本科生，特别是在二年级和三年级，是一个主要的国家关注的问题。主动学习课堂技术、混合的在线和课堂材料以及协作学习环境都显示出改善工科学生成绩的前景。然而，这些有希望的工具很少一起部署，也很少在核心学科课程中使用。这项研究计划将严格研究普渡机械自由形式课堂(自由形式)，这是一种主动-混合-合作(ABC)结构，在过去六年中经历了轶事般的成功。研究团队将从多个来源收集数据，以了解学生和教师的经验，学科内容和机构设置的重要性，以及自由形式与学生和教师的其他课程的并列。该项目将在普渡西拉斐特和另外两个不同的校区探索自由形式：普渡大学卡卢梅特和特雷恩大学，这两个校区服务于受停课影响不成比例的代表不足的人群。这项研究将为其他感兴趣的项目采用者提供有用的结果，包括在线课程模板和视频制作策略、学生学习指南和教师培训工作坊。经验研究表明，主动、混合和协作学习结构(ABC)各自提高了本科生STEM的成就和留存能力。到目前为止，这些工具还没有结合起来，也没有在前两年的学科核心班级中广泛使用，这是表现不佳的主要原因。这项研究计划将研究普渡的力学自由形式课堂(自由形式)，这是一个教学框架，在二年级动力学中完全融合了ABC工具，并在提高通过率方面取得了成功。该项目的目标是更好地了解(A)学生使用ABC工具和课堂结构的经验，(B)调解教师、学科和机构的个人特征，以及(C)在学生和教师的其他课程的背景下自由形式的运作方式。利用迭代的研究和实施过程，项目组正在测试最成熟的实现(动力学)中的自由形式，以及普渡大学和普渡大学-Calumet合作机构的其他机械工程课程。该团队将从教师和学生那里收集大量的定性和定量数据，包括态度、认知和行为指标。这将为如何在持续的一段时间内在不同的学科和机构中实施ABC环境提供有价值的新见解。

Retention of engineering undergraduates, in particular during the sophomore and junior years, is a major national concern. Active learning classroom techniques, Blended online and in-class materials, and Collaborative learning environments have each shown some promise of improving engineering student outcomes. However, these promising tools are seldom deployed together and rarely utilized in core disciplinary classes. This research program will rigorously study the Purdue Mechanics Freeform Classroom (Freeform), an Active-Blended-Collaborative (ABC) structure that has experienced anecdotal success for the last six years. The research team will collect data from multiple sources to understand the student and instructor experience, the importance of disciplinary content and institutional setting, and the juxtaposition of Freeform with students' and instructors' other courses. The project will explore Freeform at Purdue West Lafayette and two other diverse campuses: Purdue University Calumet and Trine University, which serve underrepresented populations that are disproportionately affected by stopout. This study will generate useful outcomes for other interested program adopters, including online course templates and video creation strategies, student study guides, and faculty orientation workshops.Empirical studies indicate that Active, Blended, and Collaborative learning structures (ABC) each enhance achievement and retention in undergraduate STEM. To date, these tools have not been combined, nor have they been widely deployed in disciplinary core classes in the middle two years that are major sources of underperformance. This research program will study Purdue's Mechanics Freeform Classroom (Freeform), a pedagogical framework that fully merges ABC tools in sophomore year Dynamics and has experienced success in improving pass rates. The project's goals are to better understand (a) the student experience in using ABC tools and classroom structures, (b) mediating individual characteristics of the faculty, discipline, and institution, and (c) the way Freeform operates in the context of students' and instructors' other courses. Using an iterative process of research and implementation, the project team is testing Freeform in its most mature implementation (Dynamics), as well as in other mechanical engineering courses at Purdue and at partner institutions: Trine University and Purdue University- Calumet. The team will collect a rich array of qualitative and quantitative data from both faculty and students, including attitudinal, cognitive, and behavioral metrics. This will provide valuable and novel insight into how to implement ABC environments in diverse disciplines and institutions over a sustained time period.