Accelerated Learning and Assessment in Engineering Mechanics

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Repeated deliberate practice in problem-solving can increase students' understanding of difficult engineering concepts. In addition, students who receive frequent formative feedback are better able to identify and correct problems with their reasoning. Unfortunately, few undergraduate engineering courses provide students with such opportunities for repeated practice, targeted feedback, and focused tutoring. This project aims to enable these opportunities by developing an automated educational intervention tool for learning engineering mechanics. This open-access, problem-solving interface will provide engineering students with feedback and tutoring, based on their performance on practice exercises. Since all developed materials will be open-source and open-access, the project can also inform and support the work of students and teachers beyond the local institution. By focusing on developing strong analytical problem-solving skills, this project directly responds to industry and the federal government priorities for developing an engineering workforce that is capable of innovative problem solving. Thus, this project has the potential to contribute to the ability of the U.S. to maintain its economic competitiveness and position as a global leader in innovation. The project will: 1) develop an innovative problem delivery and assessment system and evaluate its effectiveness in meeting specific learning and assessment goals in engineering mechanics; 2) systematically study how this technology-rich problem-solving interface can enhance the learning, teaching, and assessment of complex knowledge through an education research study; and 3) critically evaluate opportunities and barriers to scaling and transferring the innovation across educational contexts. This study should contribute to understanding how technological solutions, such as automated tutoring systems, can enhance learning and assessment of complex knowledge and skills. As a result, this project is likely to have relevance for teaching and learning of other engineering topics, as well as topics in other STEM fields.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.