Overview
- Instructor: Dr. Marino Nader
- Instructional Designer: Jim Paradiso
- College/Department: CECS, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
- Course Numbers & Titles: EML3701: Fluid Mechanics, EML3262: Kinematics of Mechanisms, EGN3343: Thermodynamics
Large class loads and a lack of resources. Instructors and professors have long been faced with similar challenges at large universities. Dr. Marino Nader is one such faculty member who has experienced numerous struggles while doing his best to support his students. His courses often reach up to 400 or 500 students, with some requiring extensive testing and/or labs. The infrastructure of the testing centers often struggle to support this number of students, even with the help of the engineering testing center (EPC) developed by Dr. Ron DeMara.
EML3701 was created as a mixed-mode course using LearnSmart-Connect, the adaptive learning tool of McGraw-Hill Company. The quizzes will scaffold the students to do summative assessments or the more serious tests and eventually the final exam. The above creates a constant high engagement environment for the students to help them learn well, succeed in the course, and remain in the program. Increasing student retention will increase the graduation rate.
EML3262, the mixed-mode course, was created to help the students learn the material before coming to class. Course material is uploaded to Webcourses such as scheduled assignments, the syllabus, course schedule, and course expectations at the beginning of the semester. Students are given video homework to learn at home at their own pace and can easily review them any time to learn better and be able to solve the video assignments. The students were very satisfied with this style, especially in the current summer term, as the majority are employed and can’t make it to the classroom often. This mixed-mode modality also freed the classroom up for other courses. Along with the increase in student satisfaction comes higher success and retention for this Engineering (STEM) course.
EGN3343 was developed along with colleagues Andrew Dickerson and Sagnik Mazumdar. They worked together to develop an Open Educational Resource (OER) through ObojoboNext as a textbook/courseware replacement for what was originally used in their thermodynamics courses. Nader also created 48 original videos for this course as well. With the above description, students will not only find their materials seamless, but also interesting to learn because the knowledge is linked to their everyday lives – things that they see around them and use. This should certainly increase student success and retention as well as satisfaction due to their appreciation of better understanding engineered devices that they use on a daily basis. This engineered learning experience makes the students independent learners with the least intervention of instructors. In fact, the ease of learning and the joy of understanding they may get makes success easy to attain.
The fact that students learn at their own pace and anytime they want gives them autonomy, satisfaction, and overall, a better learning environment and better learning experience.