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Introductory engineering courses at large universities often number over a hundred students, while online classes can have even larger enrollments, significantly constraining instructors’ ability to provide feedback on homework, including the free-body diagrams (FBDs). Most online homework systems do not provide feedback on FBDs if the systems even allow the submission, and instructors often lack time or resources to provide this. A few systems have been developed that use a menu-based system allowing students to creative FBDs. There is a growing concern amongst engineering educators that student lacks critical sketching skills and the ability to idealize a real-world system as a free body diagram (FBD). A sketch-recognition based tutoring system, Mechanix, allows learners to hand-draw solutions just as they would with pencil and paper, while also providing iterative real-time personalized feedback. Sketch recognition algorithms use artificial intelligence to identify the shapes, their relationships, and other features of the sketched student drawing. Other AI algorithms then determine if and why a student’s work is incorrect, enabling the tutoring system to return immediate and iterative personalized feedback facilitating student learning that is otherwise not possible in large classes. Preliminary results using Mechanix, a sketch-based statics tutoring system built at Texas A&M University suggest that a sketch-based tutoring system increases homework motivation in struggling students and is as effective as paper-and-pencil-based homework for teaching method of joints truss analysis. The current project implements Mechanix at five different universities obtaining Pre/Post Concept Inventory, homework, and exam scores. It is compared against either the university's current online system or paper-based homework. Focus groups provide further insight into the students’ perceptions about the impact of Mechanix on their learning.
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Math and moral reasoning in the age of the internet: Undergraduate students’ perspectives on the line between acceptable use of resources and cheating
This study examined how eight students in an introduction to proof (ITP) course viewed a “cheating scandal” where their peers submitted homework containing solutions found on the web. Drawing on their weekly log entries, the analysis focuses on the students’ reasoning about the difference between acceptable and unacceptable use of internet resources in learning mathematics. One pattern was that students’ view of the relationship between beliefs about mathematics and the work of learning mathematics grounded their views of “cheating.” Specifically, some felt that an implicit didactical contract required that model solutions should be available when one learned new material. The case raises the general issue of the relationship between the process of learning mathematics and the appropriate use of external resources. It suggests that instructors may need to re-examine the role of homework, especially its assessment, in their courses, so that productive struggle is valued, not avoided.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1835946
- PAR ID:
- 10215620
- Editor(s):
- Karunakaran, S. S.
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 366-373
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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It is challenging to effectively educate in large classes with students from a multitude of backgrounds. Many introductory engineering courses in universities have hundreds of students, and some online classes are even larger. Instructors in these circumstances often turn to online homework systems, which help greatly reduce the grading burden; however, they come at the cost of reducing the quality of feedback that students receive. Since online systems typically can only automatically grade multiple choice or numeric answer questions, students predominately do not receive feedback on the critical skill of sketching free-body diagrams (FBD). An online, sketch-recognition based tutoring system called Mechanix requires students to draw free-body diagrams for introductory statics courses in addition to grading their final answers. Students receive feedback about their diagrams that would otherwise be difficult for instructors to provide in large classes. Additionally, Mechanix can grade open-ended truss design problems with an indeterminate number of solutions. Mechanix has been in use for over six semesters at five different universities by over 1000 students to study its effectiveness. Students used Mechanix for one to three homework assignments covering free-body diagrams, static truss analysis, and truss design for an open-ended problem. Preliminary results suggest the system increases homework engagement and effort for students who are struggling and is as effective as other homework systems for teaching statics. Focus groups showed students enjoyed using Mechanix and that it helped their learning process.more » « less
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