The wheel has already been invented: Facilitating students' use of existing mechanics resources

Goldfinch, T; Gardner, A

The wheel has already been invented: Facilitating students' use of existing mechanics resources

Goldfinch, T Gardner, A

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Publication Type:: Conference Proceeding
Citation:: Engineering Education 2010: Inspiring the Next Generation of Engineers, EE 2010, 2010
Issue Date:: 2010-12-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Goldfinch, T	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Gardner, A https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2764-591X	en_US
dc.date.issued	2010-12-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Engineering Education 2010: Inspiring the Next Generation of Engineers, EE 2010, 2010	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/14169
dc.description.abstract	Weve been teaching engineering mechanics to first year engineering students for a long time, yet at many engineering faculties around the world there are still significant failure rates⋯ Educators have tried many different approaches to address persistent high failure rates in first year engineering mechanics courses. These approaches often involve the development of new mechanics learning resources in a variety of styles depending on the perceived learning obstacle. As part of a project funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council on addressing student learning diversity in engineering mechanics we have developed a framework for reviewing these existing learning resources. This framework has been used to create a database of references to resources, categorising them by attributes such as topics covered and depth of coverage, suitable student learning styles, appropriate learner levels, copyright and accessibility issues. While it is anticipated that academics will use the database to complement their normal subject delivery, it has been developed with student users as the main target audience. Student focus groups have shown that independent study can be ineffective, particularly after hours when assistance is unavailable. The aim of this database is to encourage students to be proactive in improving the quality of their learning by assisting them to select learning resources best suited to their needs, in both content and style of delivery. In this paper we describe the elements of the framework used to review engineering mechanics resources, the resultant database of resources, and the planned evaluation of its effectiveness in improving learning outcomes. The authors intend to demonstrate use of the database at the conference. © 2010 Goldfinch & Gardner.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Engineering Education 2010: Inspiring the Next Generation of Engineers, EE 2010	en_US
dc.title	The wheel has already been invented: Facilitating students' use of existing mechanics resources	en_US
dc.type	Conference Proceeding
utslib.for	1399 Other Education	en_US
dc.location.activity	Aston University, UK	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US

Abstract:

Weve been teaching engineering mechanics to first year engineering students for a long time, yet at many engineering faculties around the world there are still significant failure rates⋯ Educators have tried many different approaches to address persistent high failure rates in first year engineering mechanics courses. These approaches often involve the development of new mechanics learning resources in a variety of styles depending on the perceived learning obstacle. As part of a project funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council on addressing student learning diversity in engineering mechanics we have developed a framework for reviewing these existing learning resources. This framework has been used to create a database of references to resources, categorising them by attributes such as topics covered and depth of coverage, suitable student learning styles, appropriate learner levels, copyright and accessibility issues. While it is anticipated that academics will use the database to complement their normal subject delivery, it has been developed with student users as the main target audience. Student focus groups have shown that independent study can be ineffective, particularly after hours when assistance is unavailable. The aim of this database is to encourage students to be proactive in improving the quality of their learning by assisting them to select learning resources best suited to their needs, in both content and style of delivery. In this paper we describe the elements of the framework used to review engineering mechanics resources, the resultant database of resources, and the planned evaluation of its effectiveness in improving learning outcomes. The authors intend to demonstrate use of the database at the conference. © 2010 Goldfinch & Gardner.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/14169