Winter 2015 | Volume 4 | Issue 3

From the Editor

This issue consists of eight papers on topics ranging from flipping the classroom to augmented reality. In between are papers on designing devices for the less developed world and a freshman-senior linked capstone design course structure. Papers address biomedical applications, device design, safety, measuring group/team development, problem based learning, and real-world applications. These eight “advances” deal with freshmen through graduate students, and cover a number of the engineering disciplines. The papers come primarily from the U.S. with one from Europe. Together, they should provide a number of ideas that can be used to improve classroom learning.

Stephanie Butler Velegol, Sarah E. Zappe, and Emily Mahoney from Penn State were involved with some of the early experiments in flipping the classroom. Their paper “The Evolution of a Flipped Classroom: Evidence-Based Recommendations” describes experiences in flipping or inverting the course; i.e., lecture material online and viewed outside of class; class time used for problem solving. It also contains a comprehensive review of the literature. They did find that students come to class better prepared to apply the knowledge gained from the short lectures to solve problems or do other activities. In their own experiments in flipping they found that students liked having the flexibility to learn the new concepts on their own time and in their own way, preferring this new pedagogy over the traditional classroom. Students appreciated interacting with the faculty and their classmates during class time. The authors believe that flipping a course allows students the opportunity to become active learners through such activities as problem solving, guest speakers, idea generation, and field trips. They proposed that the flip model can be adapted to fit a variety of course settings….

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Table of Contents

1. The Evolution of a Flipped Classroom: Evidence-Based Recommendations
   Stephanie Butler Velegol, Sarah E. Zappe, Emily Mahoney
2. Linking First-Year and Senior Engineering Design Teams: Engaging Early Academic Career Students in Engineering Design
   Garey A. Fox, Paul Weckler, Dan Thomas
   
3. An Example-Centric Tool for Context-Driven Design of Biomedical Devices
   Rachel Dzombak, Khanjan Mehta, Peter Butler
4. Content Delivery Using Augmented Reality to Enhance Students’ Performance in a Building Design and Assembly Project
   Arezoo Shirazi, Amir H. Behzadan
   
5. Interactive BIM-enabled Safety Training Piloted in Construction Education
   Caroline Clevenger, Carla Lopez del Puerto, Scott Glick
6. An ECG Lab Project for Teaching Signal Conditioning Systems in a Master’s Degree in Mechatronic Engineering
   Francisco Javier Ferrero Martín, Alberto López Martínez, Marta Valledor Llopis, Juan Carlos Campo Rodriguez, Cecilio Blanco Viejo, Yuri A. Vershinin
   
7. Observing Engineering Student Teams from the Organization Behavior Perspective Using Linguistic Analysis of Student Reflections and Focus Group Interviews
   Kerri S. Kearney, Rebecca Damron, Sohum Sohoni
8. Conceptual Framework to Help Promote Retention and Transfer in the Introductory Chemical Engineering Course
   Michael E. Hanyak, Jr.