Experiences of Implementing Blended Teaching and Learning Technique in Mechanics and Design Courses

In this paper, effectiveness of implementation of hybrid (blended) teaching/learning in mechanics and design courses is presented and discussed. Blended teaching and learning has much been discussed and practiced in the past with many positive experiences reported. What inhibits, if any, in continuing to practice and to implement this technique? Implementation of blended teaching and learning method has been tried for two courses taught at two different four-year engineering degree local colleges. The first course is Mechatronics taught at Baker College in Flint, MI and the second course is Finite Element Analysis taught at Kettering University, Flint, MI. Both are four-year ABET accredited engineering colleges. The effectiveness of the blended teaching and learning are gaged by the overall student performance in the class and through tools that are based on student survey conducted via e-mail. These issues, together with the authors‟ limited experiences in this field are presented in this paper.