Enhancing Machine Design Courses Through Use of aMultimedia-Based Review of Mechanics of Materials

摘要

Over the last seven years the Machine Design courses at the United States Air Force Academyrnand at the University of Texas, Austin have evolved through the development, implementationrnand assessment of extensive hands-on additions to the curriculum. These educationalrninnovations, which promote experiential investigation using hands-on devices such as remoterncontrolled cars, Lego? RoboLab, and reverse engineering of consumer products have had a veryrnpositive assessment from the student’s standpoint. However, some faculty members havernexpressed concern over the necessary removal of a non-trivial amount (approximately 25%) ofrntraditional Machine Design course material in order to implement the hands-on active learningrntechniques. This paper reports on a partial solution to this removal of material. Specifically, thernMachine Design course syllabus previously allocated 2-3 lectures for review of content from thernMechanics of Materials course. Although redundant from a pedagogical standpoint, experiencernhas shown that the review is beneficial for establishing, a priori, the knowledge that is requiredrnfor the study of machine components and systems. The challenge is to find a way to “recover”rnthese lectures without compromising the necessary review. This paper presents the development,rnimplementation and assessment of a multimedia-based courseware that students can use tornreview these fundamental Mechanics of Materials principles outside of class. In order to assessrnthe course revisions and new multimedia component, a multifaceted assessment process has beenrndeveloped. This assessment process evaluates the use of the multimedia review material in 2rncategories: 1) assess the students’ competence gained by using exercises that are directlyrnintegrated into the courseware and 2) assess the students’ and the professors’ appraisal of thernnew courseware and its overall effect on the course. Assessment to date indicates that thernincorporation of this multimedia review material improves the course efficiency by providingrnneeded foundational competence in the area of Mechanics of Materials as well as releasingrnvaluable lecture time for incorporation of additional Machine Design content.