Problem solving is a signature skill of engineers. Incorporating videos in engineering education has potential to stimulate multi-senses and further open new ways of learning and thinking. Here, problem solving was examined on problems written by previous students that applied course concepts by reverse engineering the actions in videos. Since the videos usually come from YouTube, the student-written problems are designated YouTube problems. This research focused on examining the rigor of YouTube problems as well as students’ problem-solving skills when solving YouTube problems compared to Textbook problems. A quasi-experimental, treatment/control group design was employed, and data collected was evaluated using multiple instruments. NASA Task Load Index survey was used to collect 1200 ratings that assessed rigor of homework problems. Problem-solving ability was assessed using a previously-developed rubric with over 2600 student solutions scored. In the treatment group where students were assigned ten Textbook and nine YouTube problems, students reported an overall similarity in rigor for both YouTube and Textbook problems. Students in the treatment group displayed 6% better problem solving when completing YouTube problems compared to Textbook problems. Although higher perceptions of problem difficulty correlated with lower problem-solving ability across both groups and problem types, students in the treatment group exhibited smaller decreases in problem-solving ability as a result of increasing difficulty in the Textbook problems. Overall, student-written problems inspired by YouTube videos can easily be adapted as homework practice and possess potential benefits in enhancing students’ learning experience.
Link: https://www.ijee.ie/contents/c370521.html
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This content will become publicly available on September 1, 2025
Investigating the impacts of differentiated stimulus materials in a learning by evaluating activity
Classroom research has demonstrated the capacity for significantly influencing student learning by engaging students in evaluation of previously submitted work as an intentional priming exercise for learning; we call this experience Learning by Evaluating (LbE). Expanding on current LbE research, we set forth to investigate the impact on student learning by intentionally differing the quality of examples evaluated by the students using adaptive comparative judgement. In this research, university design students (N = 468 students) were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups; while each group evaluated previously collected student work as an LbE priming activity, the work evaluated by each group differed in quality. Using a three-group experimental design, one group of students only evaluated high quality examples, the second only evaluated low quality examples, and the third group of students evaluated a set of mixed-quality examples of the assignment they were about to work on. Following these LbE priming evaluations, students completed the assigned work and then their projects were evaluated to determine if there was a difference between student performance by treatment condition. Additional qualitative analysis was completed on student LbE rationales to explore similarities and differences in student cognitive judgments based on intervention grouping. No significant difference was found between the groups in terms of achievement, but several differences in group judgement approach were identified and future areas needing investigation were highlighted.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2101235
- PAR ID:
- 10521978
- Publisher / Repository:
- International Journal of Technology and Design Education
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- International Journal of Technology and Design Education
- Volume:
- 34
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 0957-7572
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1561 to 1577
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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