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1. A Move to Sustainability: Launching an Instructor Interface

   Talley, Kimberly G.; Shryock, Kristi J. (June 2023, American Society for Engineering Education)

   Sketch Mechanix, an NSF-IUSE funded research project, launched a new feature with the Fall 2022 semester: an instructor interface. Sketch Mechanix’s development had previously focused upon converting to an html platform and then expanding problem types. The initial problem that was featured was truss analysis ( method of joints ). The second problem type was free body diagrams with point loads at any angle. The most recent sketch recognition feature was the addition of applied moments, using a curved arrow. For any of these problem types, Sketch Mechanix features sketch recognition and automatic feedback to students on their free body diagrams through an online homework platform. With this latest innovation, instructors adopting this novel homework system can now input their own problems, view student scores broken down by problem, and adjust assignment due dates. Prior to the launch of this interface, all of these features involved emailing the development team. For instance, the instructor previously had to email the desired problems, their solutions, and points awarded, as well as wait for the developer to email back student scores to be able to see how students were doing. While sketch recognition has long been the key draw to using Sketch Mechanix, the addition of the instructor interface will aid in the project’s sustainability as it nears the end of the grant period. This paper and poster describe the instructor interface, including screen shots, share feedback from instructors who tested the interface in classes, and detail the future of the program. 

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2. A Move to Sustainability: Launching an Instructor Interface

   Talley, K. (June 2023, American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference)

   Sketch Mechanix, an NSF-IUSE funded research project, launched a new feature with the Fall 2022 semester: an instructor interface. Sketch Mechanix’s development had previously focused upon converting to an html platform and then expanding problem types. The initial problem that was featured was truss analysis (method of joints). The second problem type was free body diagrams with point loads at any angle. The most recent sketch recognition feature was the addition of applied moments, using a curved arrow. For any of these problem types, Sketch Mechanix features sketch recognition and automatic feedback to students on their free body diagrams through an online homework platform. With this latest innovation, instructors adopting this novel homework system can now input their own problems, view student scores broken down by problem, and adjust assignment due dates. Prior to the launch of this interface, all of these features involved emailing the development team. For instance, the instructor previously had to email the desired problems, their solutions, and points awarded, as well as wait for the developer to email back student scores to be able to see how students were doing. While sketch recognition has long been the key draw to using Sketch Mechanix, the addition of the instructor interface will aid in the project’s sustainability as it nears the end of the grant period. This paper and poster describe the instructor interface, including screen shots, share feedback from instructors who tested the interface in classes, and detail the future of the program. 

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3. An Intelligent Interface for Automatic Grading of Sketched Free Body Diagrams

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3379336.3381471  

   Runyon, Matthew; Williford, Blake; Linsey, Julie; Hammond, Tracy (March 2020, Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces Companion)

   Sketching free body diagrams is an important skill that students learn in introductory physics and engineering classes; however, university class sizes are growing and often have hundreds of students in a single class. This creates a grading challenge for instructors as there is simply not enough time nor resources to provide adequate feedback on every problem. We have developed an intelligent user interface called Mechanix to provide automated, real-time feedback on hand-drawn free body diagrams for students. The system is driven by novel sketch recognition algorithms developed for recognizing and comparing trusses, general shapes, and arrows in diagrams. We have also discovered trends in how the students utilize extra submissions for learning through deployment to five universities with 350 students completing homework on the system over the 2018 and 2019 school year. A study with 57 students showed the system allowed for homework scores similar to other homework mediums while requiring and automatically grading the free body diagrams in addition to answers. 

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4. Impact of a Sketch-based Tutoring System at Multiple Universities

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--34750  

   Viswanathan, Vimal Kumar; Hurt, Josh Taylor; Hammond, Tracy Anne; Caldwell, Benjamin W.; Talley, Kimberly Grau; Linsey, Julie S. (June 2020, 2020 ASEE Annual Conference)

   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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5. Changing Homework Achievement with Mechanix Pedagogy: A Recap

   Runyon, Matthew; Talley, Kimberly G.; Viswanathan, Vimal K.; Shryock, Kristi J.; Caldwell, Benjamin; Linsey, Julie S.; Hammond, Tracy A. (June 2022, ASEE Annual Conference proceedings)

   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. 

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