Increasing Student Retention in Chemical Engineering with Interactive Self-Study Modules

通过交互式自学模块提高化学工程学生的保留率

• 批准号: 2020415
• 负责人: John Falconer
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: University of Colorado at Boulder
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-10-01 至 2024-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2020415&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Increasing; Student; Retention; Chemical; Engineering

This project aims to serve the national interest by improving student retention in undergraduate chemical engineering degree programs. Retention can be increased by helping students improve their performance in science, mathematics, and engineering courses. Students encounter difficulties in courses when they fall behind, are not properly prepared in pre-requisite courses, or have forgotten concepts from previous courses. This project will create a set of online, interactive self-study modules for three chemical engineering courses, with thirty modules created for each course. Each module will take approximately one hour for students to complete. These modules will be based on approaches that have been effective in helping students learn, including self-testing, introductory screencasts, interactive computer simulations, interactive tutorial simulations that lead students through a step-by step procedure, and example problems with student solutions. Modules will be freely available online through the www.LearnChemE.com site, maintained by the University of Colorado, Boulder. As a result, they have the potential to impact thousands of students. Although the project focuses on chemical engineering students, many modules will be useful for students in other engineering majors including mechanical, civil, aeronautical, and environmental engineering. The primary goal of this project is to increase student retention in undergraduate chemical engineering programs by improving student performance. Modular resources can help students understand key concepts and support active learning approaches that enhance student learning. These modules will be used either as part of a flipped classroom approach or as a resource that students use on their own. They will also be used to increase retention in in second-chance courses, which are intensive three-weeks courses offered, just after the end of the semester, to students who did not pass the course that semester. The module structure includes: (i) an overview describing the goals of the module and pre-requisites; (ii) formative assessment using conceptual questions and problems; (iii) short (3-6 minute) introductory screencasts with embedded questions; (iv) lists of important equations; (v) interactive simulations in which students are asked to predict system behavior; (vi) an interactive quiz-yourself simulation that asks students for input on a complex problem solution; (vii) example problems with screencast solutions; (viii) concept tests for summative assessment; and (ix) a summary with problem answers and a list of what students should be able to do after completing the module. The impact of the modules will be assessed by evaluating students’ performance on course exams after the modules are made available and comparing the results with students who did not have access to the modules. Modules will be disseminated through an existing online repository and the results of the project will be shared with engineering faculty through engineering education conferences and journals. This project is supported by the NSF IUSE: EHR Program, which supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.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.

该项目旨在通过改善学生在本科化学工程学位课程中的学生保留来为国家利益服务。可以通过帮助学生提高科学，数学和工程课程的表现来增加保留率。学生落后时遇到困难，没有在先决条件的课程中做好适当准备，或者已经忘记了以前课程的概念。该项目将为三个化学工程课程创建一套在线，交互式的自学模块，并为每个课程创建了三十个模块。每个模块将花费大约一个小时才能完成。这些模块将基于有效帮助学生学习的方法，包括自我测试，介绍屏幕截图，交互式计算机模拟，交互式教程模拟，这些模拟使学生逐步进行步骤过程以及学生解决方案的示例问题。模块将通过www.learncheme.com网站在线免费提供，该网站由科罗拉多大学博尔德大学维护。结果，他们有可能影响数千名学生。尽管该项目侧重于化学工程专业的学生，​​但许多模块对于其他工程专业的学生都将有用，包括机械，民用，航空和环境工程。该项目的主要目标是通过提高学生的表现来提高学生的化学工程课程中的学生保留率。模块化资源可以帮助学生理解关键概念，并支持增强学生学习的积极学习方法。这些模块将被用作翻转课堂方法的一部分，也可以用作学生自己使用的资源。它们还将用于增加在第二次阶段课程中的保留率，这些课程是在学期结束后提供的三个周的大量三周课程，向那些学期没有通过课程的学生。模块结构包括：（i）描述模块和先决条件目标的概述； （ii）使用概念问题和问题的形成性评估； （iii）简短（3-6分钟）引入带有嵌入式问题的屏幕截图； （iv）重要方程列表； （v）要求学生预测系统行为的交互式模拟； （vi）一个交互式测验自己的模拟，向学生询问有关复杂问题解决方案的输入； （vii）屏幕截图解决方案的示例问题； （viii）用于总结性评估的概念测试； （ix）一个带有问题答案的摘要以及完成模块后学生应该做什么的列表。模块的影响将通过评估学生在课程考试中的表现进行评估，并在提供模块后与无法访问模块的学生进行比较。模块将通过现有的在线存储库进行传播，该项目的结果将通过工程教育会议和期刊与工程教师共享。该项目得到了NSF IUSE：EHR计划的支持，该计划支持研发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过订婚的学生学习轨道，该计划支持了承诺实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估标准来评估诚实的支持。