Student-Centered Learning in a Large-Scale Engineering Course

Abstract

We describe an approach to teaching in an engineering
course that intends to do three things without increasing
the number of hours teachers spend: improve student activity,
feedback and social skills, provide a deeper understanding of
the topic of the course and make students more engaged in
studying for an exam. In particular, we describe how we have
transformed an existing traditional lecture-and-lab-based course
into an active, cooperative learning course. Preliminary results
indicate that students are much more active in studying for the
final exam, and that their discussions help them to attain a much
deeper understanding of concepts related to the course. ATTLS
tests before and after the course show no significant changes in
students' attitudes towards learning, however.