A Study Of Students’ Perceptions Of Computer Based Instruction In Introductory Thermodynamics Courses

While education processes in all disciplines are experiencing some paradigm shifts with the recent advent and rapid advances made in the technology of designing, developing, and delivering Computer-Based-Instruction (CBI), engineering education, in particular, is entering a new and challenging phase. One of our biggest challenges is integrating CBI technologies (CD-ROM, World Wide Web/Internet, Online Synchronous/Asynchronous, Compressed Video, and hybrids of these tools) and assessing the effectiveness of their integration on teaching and learning by students in terms of depth of knowledge learned, dexterity/skill of problem solving, motivation/attitude, achievement, and retention of knowledge. Researchers of teaching and learning phenomena and processes, and educational psychologists, are investigating these phenomena based on different perspectives, theories, and hypotheses. Supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, the authors of this paper have developed computer-basedinstruction modules for an introductory thermodynamics course that incorporate active learning exercises within them. These techniques include interactive exercises, immediate feedback, graphical modeling, physical world simulation, and dynamic animations and exploration. The CBI modules employed interactive multimedia modules (CD-ROM and Online Teaching-LearningP ge 823.1 “Proceedings of the 2003 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright ©2003, American Society for Engineering Education” Testing OTLT methods) that were meant to improve students’ integrative understanding of basic concepts and to emphasize problem solving. The authors are assessing the integration of the modules into the course. This has been done through formative evaluations in which we collected data on students’ performance and perceptions over several semesters. These data were collected to investigate the impact of these changes on students’ learning, as well as to gain insight into students’ experiences and perceptions. Interviews were conducted with the students to garner feedback about the integration of CBI modules and students’ perceptions of the modules’ effectiveness for learning and achievement in the course. This paper describes interview data and outlines a tentative analysis of the data. The data suggested that students had mixed experiences and perceptions because (a) they found the pedagogical approach of requiring the use of these CBI modules to be an additional time burden (too time consuming), (b) there were inadequacies in integrating and reinforcing the material, and (c) because of students’ own perceptions and beliefs about what efficient learning should be.