Design of a Hybrid Classroom Structure for Engineering Mechanics of Materials

Teaching fundamentals of engineering Strength of Materials (also called Mechanics of Materials) is challenging as a semester long course because there are nine chapters of required content. This article discusses new hybrid classroom methods and survey results implemented in the spring of 2015 at Salt Lake Community College. The hybrid classroom uses lecture videos, which students are to review outside of class, to present theoretical principles and simple examples; this allows for more class time to spend working on more complicated applications. These videos provide students another way to see theoretical principles prior to lecture. Students can play the videos multiple times before lecture so they are better prepared interact with other students in class. We anticipate these techniques will increase the efficiency of learning course materials presented in class and enable more advanced discussion and topics to be covered. In addition to standard teaching evaluations the flipping techniques are evaluated based on an extensive array of survey questions. These questions will ask students for numerical reflective evaluations on their learning and retention of class materials.