Redesigning the Flipped Mechanics of Materials Course to Support Diverse Learners

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

The Mechanics of Materials course has been offered in flipped modality over the past 8 years. This course is an entry-level course required for several engineering majors such as Civil, Mechanical, Biomedical, Materials Science, and Manufacturing Engineering. The class has large enrollments of 100 to 120 students per section and an annual enrollment of 400 students. In the flipped course, the lectures were being delivered using pre-recorded videos. The in-person class time used to present a brief recitation of the lecture material, discuss challenging concepts, and solve problems. The course was redesigned in the summer of 2020 as part of a research project funded by the Engineering Education Center of the National Science Foundation to create an inclusive learning environment that empowers neurodiverse learners. It was attempted to achieve this goal by improving the accessibility of the content, promoting active (collaborative) learning, engaging students by using real world examples, and offering a variety of assessments in this course. Actions such as adding captions to the pre-recorded videos, posting class notes, recording and live streaming the class, and using the smart book were made to enhance the course accessibility. Active learning such as think-pair-share, collaborative problem-solving activities, and brainstorming were offered during class time to enhance peer-to-peer interactions, align students' progress with the class schedule, and improve student engagement. These active learning methods facilitated the instructor-student interaction which was challenging to provide in a large classroom. To enable students to apply their knowledge in real world applications, a series of optional small strength-based projects (SBP) were added to the course. Students were able to contribute to the course based on their personal interests and expertise by completing small projects that application of a mechanics concept was demonstrated in a real-life example. Multiple forms of assessment were offered to students allowing them to demonstrate their gained learning using alternative modalities. Class assessments included weekly homework assignments using McGraw-Hill Connect platform, online weekly quizzes, midterm exams, and in-class teamwork problem solving. In addition, students were given a second chance to enhance their final grade by taking an optional final exam. Student feedback was collected by conducting an anonymous comprehensive survey on the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Students were asked to rank different course components based on their perception about the effectiveness of each activity in their learning. This paper will discuss the implementation of different course components to enhance inclusivity and engagement in this large class. The results of the surveys and future work will be discussed.