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Faculty often utilize homework problems as a means to help students practice problem solving. Recently, with textbook solutions manuals being freely available online, students are prone to copying/cheating, which can severely limit improvements in problem solving. One hypothesis is that YouTube problems could serve as alternatives to textbook problems to significantly reduce cheating and promote better problem solving. YouTube problems are student-written problems that were inspired by events in a video publicly available online. While our previous studies have showcased positive attitudes related to engineering, high engagement, and rigor of the YouTube problems, the current study examines a subset of problems related to one major course topic, namely vapor-liquid equilibrium. The cohorts include engineering students from a public university who were assigned homework problems as part of a material and energy balance course. Two constructs were explored: problem solving and perception of problem difficulty. The study adopted an established and validated rubric to quantify performance in relevant stages of problem solving, including problem identification, representation, organization, calculation, solution completion, and solution accuracy. While problem solving can be influenced by perception of problem difficulty, the widely used NASA Task Load Index was adopted to measure the problem rigor. This paper will compare textbook and YouTube problem with respect to overall problem-solving ability as well as in each stage of problem solving. Furthermore, we will investigate whether disparities exist in students’ perceptions when solving vapor-liquid equilibrium problems. 

Complex problem-solving is a vital skill prevalent to thrive in the workforce along with creativity and conceptual thinking. Homework problems allow engineering students to practice problem solving, and writing new problems can be a creative process for students. Our previous research found that implementing alternative, student-written homework problems, referred to as YouTube problems, led to better learning attitudes. YouTube problems are course related; homework-quality problems generated by reverse engineering publicly available videos. Comparing learning experiences of students solving YouTube versus Textbook problems is the focus of the current study. Impacts of solving YouTube problems are examined based on perception of difficulty as well as students’ problem-solving skills displayed by students. To enable testing, students were assigned one textbook and three YouTube problems. Perception of problem difficulty across problems was examined using the NASA Task Load Index. Additionally, problem solving aptitudes while solving homework problems was assessed using a previously validated rubric called PROCESS: Problem definition, Representing the problem, Organizing the information, Calculations, Solution completion, and Solution accuracy. A new case study compares Textbook and YouTube problems related to reacting systems with recycle, which is one of the most difficult course concepts. A correlation between problem rigor and problem solving was found.