Homework Methods in Engineering Mechanics, Part Two

In a previous paper, “Homework Methods in Engineering Mechanics1,” the authors proposed the use of daily class quizzes to assess students’ understanding of homework assignments. The results of that one semester study suggested that this change had a minimal impact on overall performance. In the continuous effort to determine what will enable students to learn through solving homework problems without causing an overly burdensome grading effort to the faculty, the authors turned to Pearson’s Mastering Engineering. To quote from the Pearson website “Mastering Engineering is the world's leading collection of online homework, tutorial, and assessment products designed with a single purpose in mind: to improve the results of all higher education students, one student at a time2.” The authors have turned to this model to determine if it could be successful in encouraging students to perform better by encouraging students to complete assigned homework problems, and providing rapid feedback of performance. These Mastering Engineering assignments allow instructors to select problems and then by using randomized numbers, each student must complete a different solution. The problems are graded by the Mastering Engineering software while providing the students multiple attempts at getting the correct answer. There are some tutorials and coaching activities that can also be assigned. This paper will provide an assessment of student performance on exams compared to previous semesters where Mastering Engineering was not used, a summary of students’ perceptions concerning Mastering Engineering and a summary of lessons learned using Mastering Engineering in an Engineering Mechanics course. This study will be continued for an additional two semesters and the results will be reported in a follow-on paper in 2017.