Shifts In Student Attitudes to a Technology-Based Active Learning Pedagogy

Many engineering classes emphasize student problem-solving skills almost to the exclusion of the understanding of underlying concepts. However, with this type of instruction, students are better rewarded by rote learning than by conceptual understanding. It has also been shown that the lack of conceptual understanding severely restricts the students' ability to solve a new problem since they do not have the functional understanding to use their knowledge in new situations. Alternatively, classes that use active learning pedagogies have been shown to allow students to integrate new concepts with their prior knowledge and develop richer conceptual understanding.

Active learning pedagogies have become enabled by technology-based classroom tools. For example, the use of personal response systems (clickers) has increased substantially. Clicker technologies enable students to provide instantaneous feedback to instructor questions via a handheld device. Each clicker unit has a unique signal so that the answer from each individual student can be identified and recorded. However, most clickers are limited to multiple choice questions.

This study uses an alternative, technology-based tool, the Web-based Interactive Science and Engineering (WISE) Learning Tool. Its use of computer technology permits a significantly wider range of learning activities than clickers allow. Specific to this study is the ability to ask students to provide short-answer, written explanations following multiple choice questions. Pedagogically, the short answers provide students opportunities for metacognition through reflection.

Changes in student perceptions to this novel technology-based active learning pedagogy were studied over the first five years it was used in a chemical engineering thermodynamics course. Students tended to view active learning more favorably over time, particularly in regards to statements which required them to be interpretive of their own learning. They also perceived that being required to write explanations prompted them to think more deeply about multiple choice conceptual questions.

Implications for adopting active learning techniques are discussed.