Promoting Research-based Instruction in Statics and Dynamics: A Virtual Community of Practice

Although research shows that instructional techniques such as active, collaborative, and inductive learning result in better conceptual understanding and improved student motivation, many of these practices are still not widely used in engineering education. Hour long workshops are not long enough to learn to effectively use these techniques, and do not seem to result in long-term adoption of these practices in the classroom. To help address this problem, five virtual communities of practice (VCP) were established to address topical areas as part of an NSFfunded project. One of these focused on Statics and Dynamics; 24 instructors from researchbased, community colleges, and MS granting institutions participated in the Mechanics VCP. The VCP was centered on aligning the classroom around teaching objectives, classroom activities, and assessment and utilized the How Learning Works framework for discussions. Topics included Bloom’s taxonomy and writing learning objectives, active learning strategies, collaborative learning, conceptual understanding, hands-on activities, and flipping the classroom. An initial 8 week period introduced these topics and helped the instructors formulate their plans for the upcoming term, and a follow-on period is currently underway to help guide participants through this implementation. Participants reported benefiting from the weekly scheduled time to discuss teaching practices, learning about the different techniques, and especially hearing about what their peers are doing in the classroom. Challenges included logistical and technical issues, setting the proper scope of the VCP, and maintaining full participation and engagement of the community.