An experiment with online instruction and active learning in an introductory computing course for engineers

This paper describes an experiment with online instruction and active learning in an introductory computing course for engineering students. A series of online screencasts was developed to replace the traditional component of lectures for a one week period in the middle of the course. Students were asked to review the screencasts before coming to class and were assessed on that material at the beginning of class. A "just in time" lecture was provided in response to the assessment, as needed. The remaining class time was devoted to associated active learning exercises through peer instruction with formative assessment. Student feedback on this preliminary experiment was positive suggesting that further investigation is warranted.